Another Meeting on "20" Liniit Soon
Page 44
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ANOTHER meeting between the employers, represented by the Road Haulage Association and British Road Services, and the unions on the 20 m.p.k speed limit for heavy goods vehicles will be held towards the end of this month. Meanwhile, discussions continue between the R.H.A. and B.R.S.
Although no immediate settlement can be foreseen, the parties at least have a better understanding of the difficulties. The basis of the discussions so far has been that no man should lose by an increase in the speed limit to 30 m.p.h. and that extra pay should be granted in cases where the employer benefited.
The unions have sought an all-round increase in pay on the ground that the whole of the industry would benefit. The employers have disputed this argument and rejected the claim. Even the
unions have been obliged to recognize•the anomalies that any form a settlement will inevitably create.
TRANSPORT PEACE HOPES WANE UOPES of political peace in transport, I I which were encouraged by the passing of the Transport (Disposal of Road Haulage Property) Act, have waned with the election of Mr. Aneurin Bevan as treasurer of the Labour Party. This development, writes our political correspondent, is bound to increase pressure in the party for the renationalization of road haulage if they are returned to power at the next General Election.
Mr. Bevan, and Mr. Frank Cousins, who as general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union is the biggest voice in the T.U.C., both admit that they stand for " oldfashioned Socialism."
Even Mr. Gaitskell, whose supporters are centre and right-wing Labour Members of Parliament and trade unionists, has followed his party's movement farther to the left. It is not likely that Mr. Bevan will oust Mr. Gaitslcell, but as virtual second-in-command of the party his influence is strong.
BAN ON BUS STOPS REJECTED
APROPOSAL by Rornford Borough Council to ban all bus stops in South Street, the town's busiest shopping centre, has been rejected by the Minister of Transport. 'The council suggested that bus stops added to traffic congestion, but the Minister said be was advised that pedestrians, not vehicles, were the chief cause.
R.H.A. NOMINATION
AT their meeting at Bournemouth 1-1. next week,, the national executive committee of the Road Haulage Association will make their nomination of a member of the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee. Under the Road Traffic Act, 1956, the membership of the committee is to be increased by five.