Loaded Dice
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TODAY the National Joint Industrial Council for the road passenger transport industry are to hear the claim by municipal busmen for an increase in wages of about 5s. a week. Company operators and London Transport will soon be faced with a similar demand. Their attitude cannot fail to be influenced by the results of the claim on municipalities.
The Unions have probably tackled local authorities first because they are an easier quarry. The public insist on high-frequency bus services, even if they are unrernunerative, and the elected representatives of the ratepayers risk the loss of their seats if they do not respond to the demand. Social duty and electoral obligation are often placed 'above economics. One of the results of this attitude is to be seen in infringements of nationally negotiated settlements on wages by individual authorities in their efforts to attract and keep staff.
The chairman Qf Leicester Transport Committee has said that urgent national action must be taken to improve. the wages of busmen to increase the prospects of retaining employees. He appreciates, however, that industry in general will probably outbid municipal transport operators in the long run, so that eventually those undertakings may find themselves still woefully, short of staff, but with even higher costs to meet and diminished opportunities of attracting traffic.
Fares 1.4 Again If this attitude is widespread, the Unions' claim will again be conceded, although not necessarily in full. A new cycle of applications for increased fares will then begin and, if the desired revenue cannot be produced by passengers, the undertakings will have to fall back on the rates.
Companies have no such cushion, but an award of higher wages by the will compel the National Council for the Omnibus Industry to make some concession. An exact parallel is to be found in the road haulage industry, in which the Road Haulage Wages Council have several times unwillingly had their minds made up for them by British Road Services.
There is no guarantee that costs will remain stable for long, even after operators have adjusted themselves to a new level of wages for their own staffs. Vehicle manufacturers, along with other engineering concerns, are faced with extravagant claims by many of their employees, which, if granted, will raise the prices of buses. These are already about three times greater than before the war and the depreciation charge is correspondingly high. A substantial further increase in prices must inevitably be reflected in fares.
Wild Auction Bus manufacturers, like others, are caught up in the race for labour. It is believed that some of their troubles can be traced to the aircraft industry, which, backed by Government contracts negotiated on the basis of cost plus profit, can afford high wages, secure in the knowledge that the taxpayer will eventually foot the bill. If this is true, the method of paying for Service aircraft needs speedy alteration. Something must be done to reduce the turnover of labour. and stop the present wild auction for staff.
The height of folly is to be seen in an engineering concern which As reported to be giving, on the slightest pretext, bonuses in the form of bottles of wine and packets of butter. Although the short-term result is understood to have been favourable, the long-term effect is likely to be vicious.
Bus operators are more keenly affected than most other business undertakings by this kind of competition, because they cannot offer regular hours and a five-thy week. There are two courses open to them.
One is to outbid all others in the labour market. Their staff problems would then come to an end and they could provide a magnificent service—of empty buses. The alternative is to refuse further increases in pay, except in return for a directly proportional improvement in output. That is the only way of giving greater rewards without throwing the whole structure of fares once more into turmoil. The result would probably be a further loss of staff and the necessity of reducing services.
The public must decide the quality of the facilities that they require and pay accordingly. If passengers are Willing to pay taxicab fares for bus service, there is no limit to the inducements that can be offered to labour. They are, however, reluctant to meet even the modest increases that have been made so far. Pleasure and shopping travel, on which stage-carriage operators generally rely for their profits, shows a steady tendency to drop.
In balancing wages against income, companies have far more at stake than municipalities, but it looks as though they are once again to be led by the nose.