London Men Want £20 Pay Packet
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FROM OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT
7..SS than two months after getting their last pay rise London busmen the first step last week towards ing in a demand for a 120-a-week packet. This would. mean another ease of around 12 for a 40-hour week. he move came from one of London nsport's larger garages, Merton, ch has a staff of 850. They passed a tlution calling on the busmen's otiating committee to make an early roach to the LTB for a new wages Owe.. based on such lines "as the e. realistic way to secure the efficient I necessary to provide an adequate lic service ".
'he resolution. which is being eireud, to the 74 central London bus liges. is clearly inspired by the entry. Corporation's offer to its bust of average earnings of around £21) a k, subject to Certain revisions of 'king arrangements, in an effort to rcome the staff shortage. It specific
draws attention to Coventry's alistic approach " to solving staff rtage and eliminating costly overtime_ 'tirther. it points out /that despite Actions in the establishment brought tit by further service .cuts. staff shortin the central bus area now stands at i9. as compared with 2,093 at the time the setting up of the Phelps Brown nmitted of Inquiry.
In ourview,.these figures demonstrate mid dispute that the steps taken by idon Transport have utterly failed to ieve the comMittee's terms of refer
ence—that is, to solve staff shortage", the resolution declares. It adds: " In our view, the elimination of expensive overtime and the• increased revenue that would result front an improved public service would go far to absorb the increased wage' costs involved."
A front-page story in The Platform, the London busmen's own paper, also praises the realistic. approach by Coventry to a problem " that has been ducked and
evaded for years". . .
• The June • settlement, arrived at in accordance with the recommendation of the Phelps Brown Committe0 report, gave central drivers an extra .11 a week and conductors I9s. This brought the pay of a central driver up to £16 3s. 6d. a week, plus up to 12 more in' rostered earnings. With the' adjustment
scheduled overtime, and an allowance for. early and late duties, the busmen also receive a further three shillings a week. What appears to have niggled the London men is that the Coventry offer would, for the first lime since the horse-drawn days. knock .London busmen off the top of the country's pay league.
Meanwhile, the threatened ban on much of the overtime at present being worked tlast week's The ('ommerwal Motor) looked like being called off. An anonymous well-wisher sent £5 to pay the fine imposed by the Transport and General Workers' Union on Mr. and Mrs. Scott. a hug crew, who were 'alleged by the union to have worked during what should have been a rest period.