MUNICIPAL PAY AN SWER POSTPONED
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From our Industrial Correspondent
THEpay claim on behalf of 70,000 municipal busmen was not even discussed when the National Joint Industrial Council for the Road Passenger Transport Industry met in London last week. On the Council's agenda was the employers' reply to the three-point demand of the unions for higher pay, a shorter week and longer holidays:
But 5 o'clock came—finishing time under the Council's standing orders– and the item had not even been reached. Instead, most of the meeting had been taken up with a lengthy—not to say filibuster—discussion of the unofficial dispute at West Bromwich (see p.22).
Although they would not say so publicly, neither side was sorry that the pay problem had been shelved for the time being. Clearly no sensible agreement could he reached on pay for provincial busmen until the committee of inquiry into the pay and conditions of London busmen had made its interim proposals.
The Council meets again on January 9, when a realistic offer can be exriected, This uncertainty is also the reason why there has been no action yet on the part of the six unions who look after the interests of the 100,000 company busmen.