What the Associ ons Are Doing
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Big Drive for Association Merger
I N furtherance of the movement for securing a merger of associations, both in Yorkshire and nationally, a mass meeting of operators will be held on Sunday. December 22, in the Scala Cinema, Albion Place, Leeds, at 6.45 p.m. Thousands of operators have been directly invited to attend the meeting, which has been called in accordance with a resolution passed at last week's meeting in Leeds, to give representatives of all associations concerned an opportunity of stating their views.
The plan for forming a Yorkshire committee to link up all associations, approved in principle at last week's Leeds meeting, will again be put forward, and detailed suggestions for the constitution and operation of this committee may be submitted by Mr. J. Reeling, vice-chairman of the Yorkshire Stage Carriage Operators Association.
Those on the platform will, it is expected, include Major J. B. Elliott, chairman of A.R.O., and Mr. R. W. Sewill, national director of A.R.O. Major R. A. B. Smith, president of the C.M.U.A., and Mr. F. G. Bristow, general secretary of the C.M.U.A., have. also been invited, along with Mr. J. Wallis, chairman of the North-Eastern Division, and Mr. James France, a former C.M.U.A. president. Officials of Yorkshire associations in attendance will include Mr. F. G. Bibbings, general secretary of the .Y.S.C.O.A., and Mr. Sharpley, secretary of the Sheffield Horse and Motor Owners' Association. Mr. Robert Barr, a member of the National Council of A.R.O., and a strong advocate of amalgamation, will occupy the chair at this meeting.
Mr. Keeling's proposals will, it is understood, provide for the pooling of all association funds in the county, subject to the deduction of a fixed percentage, to be paid to the C.M.U.A., A.R.O. and the Road Transport Employers' Federation.
It is proposed that, in the first instance, the executives of all the constituent associations shall form the Yorkshire committee. A proportion of the representatives of each association on that body shall form a general purposes committee and a finance committee. So soon RS possible after the Yorkshire committee has begun to function, a committee shall be set up
for each section of operators. • " At the outset, each association will: continue under its own name, and the Yorkshire committee will be, in fact, a Yorkshire federation of associations. If the aim of securing a national merger be realized, the various organizations will then sink their identities. The advocates of the scheme for setting up a Yorkshire committee hope that it will quickly come into being after Sunday's meeting. Even if there should not be unanimous approval from every association concerned, it is anticipated that the support will be so overwhelming that immediate steps can be taken to put the scheme into operation.
It is understood that the negotiations which have recently been taking place between the C.M.U.A. and the Yorkshire Stage Carriage Operators Association on the question of a possible amalgamation between the two bodies have not yet had any definite result.
Wages and Conditions: A.R.O. Criticism
REVISIONS in the constitution, operation and financing of the National Joint Conciliation Board add the Area Boards are recommended in a memorandum presented, on Wednesday, by A.R.O. to the National Board.
The National Board .should, it is suggested, be composed of two representatives elected annually by and from the employers' . panel to each Area Board, All members of the employers' panels of the National Board and Area Boards should be directly concerned with the Management of labour of the grades affected by the findings of the Boards,
The present method of' financing the Boards is said to be inequitable, in that the whole of the burden falls on those who have voluntarily joined one of the national associations forming the employers' panels. If the associations be still required to finance the conciliation machinery, every A and B-licensee should he enrolled in one of the national bodies. This object could be attained if the Licensing Authorities insisted that, in order to ensure the. observance of fair wages and conditions, licence applicants should be members of one of the associations forming the Boards. The Area Boards should, moreover, be given wider powers.
A.R.O. wishes to see complete observance of any agreement entered into under the National Board. It points out, however, that the present lack of observance is due to the existing onerous conditions and wages, to the exclusion of ancillary users 'from any wages award, to the activities of the farmer C-licensee, who may carry for hire or reward, and to the effect upon the whole industry of the " agreed charges " section of the 1933 Act.
The Association urges that there should he no attempt to apply to the country as a whole any award respecting wages and conditions until certain major issues have been thoroughly discussed. It is recommended that the National Board should request the Ministers of Labour and Transport to receive, at the earliest possible moment, a deputation of members of the Board and of the Associations forming the employers' panel A.R.O. maintains that it is impossible to enforce the payment of highergrade wages, even.for a day's work, in cases where vehicles are operating from a lower-grade area into a highergrade district.