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Another Turn in the Spiral

19th March 1954, Page 33
19th March 1954
Page 33
Page 34
Page 33, 19th March 1954 — Another Turn in the Spiral
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Unless Increase in Wages is Offset by Lower .Taxation, -Higher Fares are Inevitable

1.N the absence of a reduction of fuel tax, it seems inevitable that a further increase of 3s. a week in the wages of company busmen must bring a new wave of applications for advances in• fares. Operators will be faced with an addition of about Lim. a year to their costs, which will be superimposed on the £1,350,000 represented by the increase of 4s. a week awarded as from December 7 last.

If a further advance improved the supply of labour and reduced the need for costly overtime working it might be justified, so far as the operator is concerned, but there is no evidence that it would do so. In the Midlands, at least, the shortage of busmen is now greater than it was five months ago, before the 4s. increase was granted.

There is also no guarantee that extra pay will make existing staffs more content or more willing to accept changes that will promote efficiency in operation. Bus companies can hope for little or nothing in return for the expenditure of Elm. a year.

The Court's Duty Whether the court of inquiry set up by the Vlinister of Labour to investigate the wages dismite were entitled to recommend the payment of mother 3s. a week is uncertain. It has been iaimed that the court's duty was to settle a contitutional question, and not to fix wages. Whether nnot that is so, the court have advocated a rise n pay on the precedents of the capitulation of he railways to the threat of a strike and of London Fransport's award of another 7s. a week.

The court said that much had happened in the ransport industry since an extra 4s. was granted a December, and that a further increase should be iven, so as to make the total rise awarded to the ompany busmen comparable with the terms Dttled by negotiation in other sections of the -ansport industry. The court ignored the award C 4s. made in December to municipal busmen y the Industrial Court. It is arguable that the conitions of company and municipal busmen are more analogous than those of road and railway operatives, and that if the Industrial Court found that 4s. was a fair increase for municipal busmen, that sum is equally applicable to company employees.

It is unfortunate that the court of inquiry should have relied partly on the precedent of London Transport, for the Executive are contemplating an advance in fares to compensate for an increase in wages of over £.2m. a year and for other rises in costs. The national interest requires that any advance in wages should be directly related to the productive effort of the employee. Any increase which is awarded without the expectation of extra efficiency is sheer inflation.

Chancellor Holds the Key An advance in wages and improved working conditions could, however, be granted to employees, without a corresponding reorganization of fare schedules, if the Chancellor of the Exchequer would reduce the tax on fuel. He alone holds the key to the situation.

With the approach of Budget Day, the campaign for a reduction in the tax is growing. Thousands of handbills explaining the effects on fares of the fuel tax have been distributed to passengers. The big bus companies have enlisted the aid of local councils, many of whom have agreed to make representations to local Members of Parliament on the subject. The bus-owning local authorities are, of course, wholeheartedly in favour of the reduction of fuel tax, although some of them have declined to participate actively in the campaign and have turned a matter of economics into a party dispute.

Motor agents are also lending their substantial weight to the movement and 34,000 posters calling for a reduction in the tax from 2s. 6d. to Is. 6d. a gallon have been distributed to 16,629 garages. In addition, the mighty T.U.C. have added their voice to the clamour.

The fuel tax has done more than anything to create a demand in this country for greater and greater economy in vehicles. This has been met in part by reducing unladen weight to a minimum and has resulted in the production of a range of vehicles not ideally suited for overseas operation.

Manufacturers have accordingly had to duplicate models to satisfy overseas, as well as home, needs and have been saddled with increased costs of production and service. These costs are reflected in the prices of vehicles and are a great handicap to successful competition with American, Continental and Japanese manufacturers in foreign markets. The case for a reduction in tax on road transport is overwhelming. Operators of vehicles, transport employees, agents and manufacturers have joined forces to impress upon the Government and the public the effect on the cost of living of the present level of fuel duty.

The public would do well to study the information which is being given to them, for, in the end, it is they who have to pay. Increases in costs that are not counterbalanced by extra revenue may cause losses and so make it impossible to maintain adequate services.

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Organisations: Industrial Court

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