B.R. Drivers Strike For More Pay
Page 35
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
From our Industrial Correspondent
NEARLY 3,000 van drivers employed by British Railways in various parts of the country came out on strike this week. The stoppage, which was in protest against delays in handling their pay claim, began in London at midnight on Sunday. But soon depots in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Hull and Manchester, joined in.
In London alone, strike leaders claimed that collection and delivery at 24 depots had come to a stop. It affected mainly parcels traffic. Fruit and vegetables for Covent Garden and the other produce markets, and fish for Billingsgate were not greatly affected.
Merchants who had been forewarned about the stoppage serif their own lorries to the depots to collect their consign• merits.
The strike at most of the depots was planned to last for one week_ But at some it was limited to a 24-hour token stoppage.
The pay claim, over which the strike was called, affects 14,000 drivers. They all want to be paid at the top rate of £9 18s. a week instead of having varying rates accordingto the type of vehicle they drive_ For the majority of the men their claim means a pay rise of 15s. a week.
Jack Report : "A Complex Problem"
THE Minister of Transport had no good news to give when he was asked in the Commons last week for a progress report on his study of the Jack recommendations.
He was examining the report in conjunction with other Ministers concerned, he told Sir James Duncan (Cons., South Angus). Associations representing local authorities and bus operators had been asked for their comments, he added. " I will make a statement as soon as I can, but the problem is complex and 1 cannot yet say when this will be."