COMPANY MEN AWARDED Rear-engin(
Page 40
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THEIR 15s.
'THREE of the five claims for improved I. wages and conditions demanded by company busmen have been conceded by the special Committee of Inquiry, set up by Mr. Ray Gunter, Minister of Labour, in March.
The recommendations were published on Tuesday, and are that there should be an increase of 15s. a week in the basic rate of pay for drivers and conductors and 13s. 6d. a week for semi-skilled men in garages and running sheds; that a sick pay scheme should be introduced; and that the two sides of the National Council for the Omnibus Industry should enter into discussions about implementing the 40-hour week with a view to its introduction by the beginning of April, 1966.
The increases in basic wages are to take effect from the beginning of the first full pay period after May 10; the amount of increase for skilled maintenance staff was left for discussion between the parties.
Claims of the unions for an additional £2 holiday pay for certain skilled workers and for the introduction of an incentive bonus scheme were rejected. The committee felt that the former claim did not apply to these workers, who were not normally called upon to work on Saturdays and Sundays. whilst no one seemed, so far, to have thought of any bonus scheme which would increase productivity or be self-financing in the way in which the schemes recently introduced in the London Transport section were.
"It would be a pointless and even frustrating exercise to recommend that the two sides should get together to discuss the question, unless and until one side or the other of the National Council had some positive suggestion to make about a scheme which appears to be likely to lead to increased, productivity ''. the report states.
The committee felt that there was a good deal in favour of the employers' proposal for differential payments between men employed on services of a municipal nature and those on rural services. The matter should be considered by the two sides in consultation with municipal undertakings. Regarding the Estimated cost of /5,500,000 to implement the increased wages and sick-pay scheme (assuming a 40-hour week), the committee felt it was inevitable that fares would be raised and possibly some unremunerative services reduced or withdrawn altogether; employers and employed alike should co-operate in minimizing the effects.
A spokesman for the employers said they were "disappointed " by the recommendations, which meant the biggest wage award in their history. Officials of the TGWU are to discuss the report; meanwhile. on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Midland Red branch stated that some representatives were dissatisfied, believing that the recommendations were inadequate.