Routemaster Trouble in London
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From Our Industrial Correspondent
HE London Transport Executive are running into difficulties over their eme for replacing their fleet with utemaster buses. A London busmen's egate conference, which met at the ional offices of the T.G.W.U. decided 69 votes to 2 to resist the putting into vice of any more Routemasters "until h time as an agreed and adequate npensation for the crews is negotiated." Vlore than 1,000 64-seat Routemasters already in service as replacements for seater trolleybuses. Any new replacents would be of 56-seat LT doublek motor buses.
he busmen .want some compensation working the bigger buses and discusis have been taking place at sub committee level between the L.T.E. and the union to work out an acceptable productivity allowance for the bus crews affected. So far no formal offer has been made, but unofficially it is reported that London Transport have offered to increase the wages of Routemaster crews by 8s. 9d. a week, provided the busmen accepted a 9f per cent. cut in the number of buses in operation generally.
It is reported that the delegate conference was opposed to the proposal for extra pay. They preferred compensation in the form of a shorter working week. They complained that intervals between buses on the road were already too great and were causing a steady loss of passengers.