Company Award Ratified
Page 47
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THE National Council for the Omnibus Industry decided, as expected, to accept the recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry into the pay and conditions of company busmen when it met in London last week. As a result the 110,000 men and women covered by the Council will get a pay rise of 15s. a week, backdated to May 10, in the case of drivers and conductors, and of 13s. bd. in the case of semiskilled and unskilled maintenance workers.
The longest discussion was over the pay of skilled craftsmen, for whom the Committee had made no recommendation, saying that this was w matter which could safely be left to the employers and the unions to discuss and agree between themselves. But agreement proved far from easy and it was finally decided to pay them the same 15s. as the bus crews, on the understanding that this was to be regarded merely as an interim increase. A sub-committee is to be established to go further into the question of their pay. The device of setting up sub-committees was also used to deal with the other subjects left open by the Committee. These were the question of establishing a 40-hour week' by the beginning of next April, the introduction of a sick pay scheme. the investigation of any unreasonable restrictive practices and the proposal for making further pay increases on a differential basis. This latter proposal—for paying bus crews in country areas less than those working in towns--was rejected by the Committee until there had been an examination of the practical difficulties. It recommended. however. that such an examination should he carried Out as soon as possible. Having made the settlement, the reckoning is still to come. The employers on the Council warned the unions of the severe effects the agreement would have on the industry's finances and the consequent need to increase fares.
Passengers are Road Users
L'OLLOWING a case in which bus
passengers gave evidence against the driver when he was summoned for driving without reasonable consideration for other road users (his passengers) the Queen's Bench Divisional Court has ruled that vehicle passengers are in fact " road users" under the Road Traffic Act. Giving the decision last week, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Parker (who sat with Mr. Justice Sachs and Mr. Justice Browne), said that the Road Traffic Act 1960 provided that a driver should drive with reasonable consideration for other persons using the road; prima facie these were persons other than the driver in question, and he thought that any passenger " used " the road just as much as the driver. The High Court appeal was against an opposite decision by the Leeds Magistrates, and the Divisional Court has sent the case back to the magistrates for re-hearing.