Provincial Bus Pay : Move Expected
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BOTH the Transport and General Workers' Union and the bus industry employers were this week expecting an early decision by the Minister of Lab-our on the 14s. 6d. a week pay claim put in by the Provincial busmen. The Unioni have asked that the claim should be sent to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal. following their rejection of the employers. 5s. offer.
It is believed that the Minister has delayed his decision because he feels that methods of direct negotiation have not been fully explored. The Union's case is that they want their 100,000 members in the provinces to be equal to London Transport's country busmen in pay.
Last week, Birmingham Corporation reached agreement with the Union over an fs. 6d. a week claim by their bus crews. Details were not announced. although a Union spokesman said they were "not dissatisfied."
NEW CLAIM BY ENGINEERING UNIONS?
AFTER the executives of the 40 unions in the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Enginering Unions have met at York next Thursday, they are likely to seek from the engineering employers an improvement, on the offer of increased wages which was rejected last week.
The employers offered an extra 5s. 6d. a week for skilled men, 5s. for semiskilled workers and 4s. 6d. for labourers, equal to about 3 per cent They refused a claim for a 40-hour week arid higher• holiday pay. The unions rejected the offer.
The employers' proposal was conditional upon the stabilization of wages for at least another year. They pointed out that a downward trend in engineering this year and next year was eXpected. It was no longer possible to pass on the cost of wage increases by raising prices.
They said that although under last year's award basic weekly wages were raised by 9s. to I Is., average earnings increased by 16s. 4d. to 22s. 9d.
S. AFRICAN HAULIERS HIT BY RAIL ENCROACHMENT
ROAD transport operators in South Africa have appealed against a ruling that South African Railways may carry goods by road at rail rates, provided the goods were offered to the railways in the first place. They told the National Transport Commission that continuing expansion into road haulage by the railways was a threat to existing operators.
Pointing out the dangers of a monopoly in long-distance traffic being gained by the railways, the operators said that in many cases there were already more vehicles available than necessary.
The railways were applying for their temporary road services to be made permanent and were vigorously contesting every important application by normal hauliers. Unless there were some improvement in the situation, the investment of capital in private enterprise operations would be affected.