Blowing Hot and Cold
Page 32
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rr HE recent wave of defection among bus crews 1 must have made their employers wonder whether they were justified in conceding yet' another advance in wages. Some of the matters in dispute have been so trivial that it is difficult to understand how apparently normal individuals could have gone to the length of withdrawing their labour.
The unofficial strike of West Bromwich municipal busmen over the employment of an Indian trainee was particularly discreditable. It is ironical that the men concerned should be union members who grace themselves with the prefix, "Brother."
Another strike occurred without warning last week in Kent and caused bus services over a wide area to be withdrawn. The men had refused to work overtime unless the conditions of an award which had been accepted by their union were changed. In an effort to keep faith with the public the company employed inspectors as conductors during the hours when the regular conductors declined to work. The men did not want to work overtime themselves and resented the employment of deputies.
What strikers in the bus industry seem to be incapable of realizing is that any stoppage causes irreparable financial loss to their employers, reduces the possibility of securing better wages and conditions, and alienates the sympathy of farepaying passengers. The attitude of the public was picturesquely expressed by a Chatham coal merchant who posted outside his yard a large notice stating: "No bus strikers served."