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London Strike Temporarily Averted

22nd March 1963, Page 39
22nd March 1963
Page 39
Page 40
Page 39, 22nd March 1963 — London Strike Temporarily Averted
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Keywords : London, Strike Action

FROM OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT

ADECISION to call a London bus strike was narrowly averted this week when renewed pay talks, between leaders of the busmen and the London Transport Board, ended in deadlock and bitterness.

But the danger of a strike is by no means over. It has only been deferred and will come up again at two busmen's meetings—one official, the other unofficial.

The first, a delegate conference of men from every garage in London, was due to meet at the Union's regional headquarters at Woodberry Down yesterday to hear a report of the latest negotiations and to decide on the next step.

The second, a recall of an unofficial mass meeting, will almost certainly demand a strike every Monday starting on April 1 unless the delegate con ference has meanwhile decided on some positive " step.

The busmen's negotiating committee had been hurriedly summoned by telegram to a special meeting last Monday morning. There they heard a report on the talks between Mr. Frank Cousins, their general secretary, and Mr. A. B. B. Valentine, chairman Of the L.T.B.

In the afternoon they all trooped back to London Transport to renew the pay negotiations. But, to their surprise, instead of the improved offer which they had been confidently expecting, Mr. Brian Harbour, the Board's chief negotiator, offered no more than the amount which had already been rejected. This was a basic 10s. a week pay rise plus an extra Is. for conductors, 3s. for country bus drivers and 4s. for central London drivers. Tied to this was a demand for co-operation in London Transport's "package deal" for higher productivity. The only concession Mr. Harbour was willing to make was to discuss the 1Cls. a week increase separately from the issue of productivity.

Mass Meeting This infuriated the busmen's leaders, ‘.klio had made it clear that they expected a 14s. a week pay rise all round without "strings ". Most of the negotiating committee stormed out of the meeting and went straight to an unofficial mass meeting called by officials of 41 garages. A resolution calling for Mondays-only strikes had been prepared, but Mr. Bill Jones, an executive member of his union and one of the negotiators, persuaded the meeting to postpone a decision so as not to influence Thursday's delegate conference.

But he made his position perfectly

clear. He told the meeting: "I want to suggest to the London bus section that it is now time you got off your knees and became men and women fighting for what you are entitled to. You must be prepared to struggle. If you accept this offer you will forever have to hold your peace ". It was expected that the delegate conference would ask Mr. Cousins for plenary powers to call a strike or alternatively to leave a decision to the branches. But no one expected that the offer had the slightest chance of being accepted.

Meanwhile, from London Transport came a warning after Monday's meeting that any pay settlement for the busmen would mean that fares would have to go , up again.

P.s.v. Traffic Decline nVER the ten years 1951-61, travel by public road transport in Great Britain declined by 15 per cent. Total passenger transport increased by nearly 40 per cent during the period; car and motorcycle travel more than doubled, and in 1961 private transport accounted for more than half of all passenger transport.

These trends are recorded in "Public Road Passenger Transport in Great Britain—Statistics for 1961-62", produced by the Ministry of Transport and published through H.M. Stationery Office.

The fall in p.s.v. traffic occurred entirely on stage services, the number of passengers carried on express and contract services increasing substantially over the decade; excursions and tours traffic remained fairly steady throughout the period. The biggest decline in stage services was in the London area where the number of passengers carried fell by more than a third; in other main urban areas it was down by 19 per cent and in semi-urban and rural areas by 12 per cent.


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