WARNING BY T.U.C.

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28435, 15 November 1957, Page 21

WARNING BY T.U.C.

Machinery For Wage Talks

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, November 13. Leaders of Britain’s Trade Union Congress, representing 8,000,000 workers, warned the Government tonight of “grave consequences” if it meddled with the established machinery for wage negotiations. The warning was issued after an all-day conference of the congress’s Economic Council to discuss the Government’s policy of discouraging wage increases. While the unions were issuing their warning, both the Government and the Opposition in the House of Lords welcomed a plan for a five-year industrial peace put forward last week by Lord Chandos, president of the Institute of Directors. Lord Chandos proposed an agreement for five years’ peace between management and labour, a 6d in the £ rise for employees every year, and a week’s notice for every year of service with a firm if dismissed. In a recent House of Commons debate on the Government’s measures to combat inflation and rising prices, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Peter Thorneycroft) said that a wave of big wage increases would mean disaster to the country’s economy. He asked the arbitration tribunals which decide on wage claims to think of the dangers before granting high wage awards. This was followed by the Minister of Health, Mr lain Macleod, refusing wage increases for Health Service workers, though their claim had been approved by the Whitley Council, a civil service negotiating body. The Lord Chandos plan was mentioned in the Lords tonight by Lord Swinton, a Conservative peer, who said that the proposal was a “concrete one.” He thought it should be taken as a basis for discussion by the Government. Opposition, employers, and trade unions. For the Government, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Kilmuir, said the plan should be considered. For the Opposition, Lord Alexander of Hillsborough, leader of the Labour Party in the Lords, said that he thought it possible for industry itself to approach the Trades Union Congress general council for consultations and discussions.