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London Transport Backs Down Over Disputed Clause
Page 48
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FROM OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT
THE dispute over the London busmen's recent pay-and-hours agreement was resolved last week following top level talks between the Transport and General Workers' Union and the London Transport Board. As reported in The Commercial Motor on March 5, there was such strong feeling among the men about a clause making it a condition that there must be no bans on overtime that another ban was only narrowly averted.
Their case was taken up with the LTB by Mr. Harry Nicholas, acting general secretary of the union, and Mr. Sam Henderson, the. national passenger group secretary. They persuaded London Transport that the clause, to which the men had taken exception, really served little useful purpose in practice. Although the Board contended that it formed an integral part of the agreement, it finally agreed to withdraw it, with the proviso that services would have to be maintained or they would be free to take such action as they thought necessary to ensure service to the public.
After an explanation by Mr. Nicholas this compromise was accepted by the men's negotiating committee and the agreement at last signed. Under it drivers and conductors will get another fl ls. 3d. a week, starting from Wednesday (March 17), as compensation for not getting the reduction of the working week to 40 hours until October.
But although this particular spot of trouble has now been settled, there are already signs of more to come. Under the terms of the Phelps Brown Committee report the London busmen will soon be able to demand a revision of pay rates in accordance with the movement of pay in other industries since the package deal was concluded last year.
A clue to what some of the more militant elements have in mind when it comes to renewed pay talks is given in the latest issue of The Platform, the busmen's publication. A contributor there puts forward two demands—a basic £20 a week wage for both drivers and con
ductors, "with none of the fiddling 'penny for this' and 'twopence for that'
nonsense that clutters up our agreement ". And on hours, a five-day week and a
seven-hour day (" with no flexibility nonsense to make it longer, or twelve-hour spread-overs to destroy it ") plus complete abolition of overtime.
Northern General to Maintain Overtime Ban: Bus crews at 14 depots of the Northern General Transport Co. Ltd., Gateshead, have decided to maintain their ban on overtime, despite the Government's decision to appoint a court of inquiry into the hui industry. A spokesman for the men stated they were not satisfied with the way thing; were going and intended carrying on with the overtime ban to maintain pressure on the employers.
New Headquarters for Western Welsh: The head office of Western Welsh Omnibus Co. Ltd. has been moved from the central bus station in Cardiff to the now extended and modernized original headquarters at 253 Cowbridge Road West, on the western outskirts of the city. Tours and inquiries will continue to be dealt with at the central bus station.