Anger in Manxiand
Page 26
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MILITANT MOOD AT TGWU BI-ANNUAL CONFERENCE
from our industrial correspondent • An amendment urging the Transport and General Workers Union to throw the weight of its powerful dockers' section behind a ban on tachographs was tabled for the union's policy-making bi-annual conference this week.
A Yorkshire region branch urged the union to back the policy demanding that importation of vehicles with tachographs should be stopped and that dockers should be instructed by the union to "black" vehicles so fitted.
Along with other key motions affecting the commercial services and passenger transport groups, the motion (which reaffirmed "very strong exception to") on the fitting of tachographs, and the militant amendment, were both referred to the trade group national committee and the executive council for decision.
Another motion, urging that approaches should be made to the Ministry of Transport for changes to be written into the regulations on tyre safety to protect haulage drivers who lose their licences as a result of defective tyres, also passed without debate in the main conference.
It was proposed, in an amendment, that the union should seek undertakings that disqualified drivers should be kept in employment at not less than average wage and that they should benefit from any higher rates and benefits negotiated during their period of disqualification. Their seniority should also be maintained so that a driver is automatically reinstated to his former position when disqualification ends.
Resolutions calling for increased subsistence allowances; legislation aimed at eliminating unnecessary delays at places of unloading and picking up; and disbanding of the Haulage Wages Council were also referred to the trade group committee.
It was suggested that the union should officially condemn "class distinction" said to exist between subsistence payments made to staff, operating and ancillary workers. But union officials were urged to use all the means at their disposal to bring about a levelling of allowances.
In the busmen's section one motion called for support for the principle of a weekly net wage of £20. Another, seeking a standard wage for all bus workers, attacked an amendment saying that the national agreement should include a maximum length of duty of 7 hours in the six-day week.
A call for adequate heating appliances for bus cabins and saloons—possibly backed by a demand for legislation for efficient heaters and de-misters—was tabled by branches in Manchester and Newcastle.
In his presidential address, Mr. Len Fordham, a Manchester busman and a member of the Labour Party national executive, recalled the 12-month back-dated pay increase last Christmas to municipal busmen whose £1-a-week increase was held up by the Government.
He said: "The year-long struggle of the municipal busmen became a symbol of the folly of the incomes policy. As a municipal busman I may be permitted some personal pride that we drove a bus all through the Prices and Incomes Act."
Several busmen joined in Monday's angry debate demanding an end to the Government's present "unjust" wages plan and they gave a warning that the union should oppose any extension of existing restraint legislation.
The motion was carried unanimously after its mover, Mr. William Neal, a London conductor, had dismissed nine Incomes Board reports on basic wages as "puerile and parasitic".
London busmen, he said, had not had a basic wage rise for something like three years and if they imposed an overtime ban shortly it would have been caused by the wages policy.
Earlier, Mr. Jack Jones, general secretary-elect, dealing with the attitude of lorry drivers and dockers over the new container bases, had assured delegates that the executive would look after their interests and protect their jobs and pay.
On Tuesday, during a debate on demands for a £16 minimum wage, Mr. Jones attacked haulage employers who were "little short of criminals in their wage bargaining". He said: "Perhaps we should remember that, when we get articles in the Press critical of our officers"; he praised local deals for £16 to £17 a week basic rates which had been achieved in Liverpool, the Midlands, Hull and elsewhere.
accidentfree miles
• RoSPA's highest-ever award, an inscribed silver salver, for 45 years' accidentfree driving has been presented to Mr. Alfred Fox, 69, of West Norwood. London. Mr. Fox had been a newspaper van driver since 1916 until his retirement at the end of last year. He covered more than lat miles in Central London in all weathers day and night without accident.
The presentation was made by the Lord Mayor of London at the annual meeting of the London Accident Prevention Council on Wednesday at the Livery Hall of •Guildhall.