What the Associations Are Doing
Page 33
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Manchester Agreement Disputed recent agreement, which was rexpected to solve the wages and other problems in Manchester and district, has not, after all, met with unanimous support. There is no hitch so far as C.M.U.A. circles are concerned, masters and men having signed the terms after protracted consideration.
The employees' attitude was presented by Mr. Ashcroft, in an interview:—" We shall support the Manchester agreement, no matter what the cost. The employers who signed were empowered to act for the whole area." Mr. H. H. Lapsley, secretary of the C.M.U.A. in Manchester, spoke to our correspondent, this week, in similar terms. He said that the agreement will stand in spite of anything do -e by opponents, who have, at a meeting a few days ago, found supposed grounds for not adhering to the terms.
The resentment emanates from the six " local " bodies forming the Lancashire and Cheshire Group of Commercial Road Transport Associations, of which Councillor Howard Robinson is secretary. They argue that the agreement was arrived at by employers acting for Manchester, Salford and the immediate area, and not for the whole 10-mile radius covered by the agreement, and that these outside operators cannot be held by an agreement reached at ta meeting to which they were not invited.
It is understood that the agreement will come before the National Joint
Conciliation Board on May 28. If confirmed by that body, it will be obligatory on all to conform with it. Meanwhile, the Manchester signatories are stated to be paying the agreed extra wage of about 4s. per week and granting other advantages to workers.