Wages councils threatened
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THE fate of the wage negotiating machinery of road haulage men is in the balance.
At present their wages are settled by one of the 55 Government-sponsored wages councils which represent 3,500,000 lower-paid workers. But these may be abolished because they are throwing a spanner in the works of the Government's Prices and Incomes policy.
The Royal Commission on Trades Unions and Employers Associations has had evidence on wages councils and Mr. Roy Hattersley, parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Labour, told the Commons last week that the Minister, Mr. Ray Gunter, was awaiting the report before making a decision.
The trouble arose when the retail drapery wages council's recommendation for raises of 15s. for male and 12s. for female workers was reduced by the Prices and Incomes Board. The wages council refused the PIB cuts.