Cat Among the Pigeons
Page 30
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE refusal of Mr. lain Macleod, Minister of Labour, to accept the recommendation of his Chief Industrial Commissioner, Sir Wilfred Neden, for the establishment of a committee of inquiry into the London busmen's pay claim, has placed Sir Wilfred in an extremely uncomfortable position. His influence with the unions in future disputes has been undermined. It is difficult to believe that Mr. Macleod has taken such a firm line on his own responsibility and it is to be supposed that he has acted on Cabinet orders.
His alternative of "a more general inquiry into the wages situation in the whole of the road passenger transport industry " is likely to create little enthusiasm among operators and has had a hostile reception from the Transport and General Workers' 'Union. The problems of the industry were ventilated before the Industrial Disputes Tribunal last July and there is probably little that can be added.
A committee of inquiry would have to make some kind of recommendation, presumably for a settled percentage difference between busmen's wages in London and the provinces. The result would be that every time a wage increase was granted by London Transport—the soft underbelly of the industry—a corresponding advance would have to be conceded in the provinces.
This is the eventuality that Mr. Macleod evidently aims to prevent, for there is little practical difference between a steady progression of ,wage increases in I London and the provinces and the present leapfrog tactics. A committee of inquiry on the lines suggested by the Minister would achieve little, and might do harm. Before wages in London and the provinces can be harnessed, it will be necessary for the leaders of the T.G.W.U. to gain a closer hold over their members in the Metropolis. If the wages policy of the whole industry is to be controlled by a few militant spirits in London, there will never be stability in fares and the disturbing drift from public to private transport will be accelerated.