Railwaymen told to hold ballot

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32895, 19 April 1972, Page 17

Railwaymen told to hold ballot

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, April 18. Britain’s railway unions, at present conducting a nation-wide go-slow that has paralysed the country’s train services, face a “ballot your members or we will” ultimatum from the Government today. The Employment Minister (Mr Maurice Macmillan) is due to meet rail union leaders early today and is expected to urge them to poll their members over the go-slow, which left thousands of rushhour travellers stranded yesterday. The Government is determined not to give in to the unions, who are demanding a 16 per cent pay increase. They have refused a 12 per cent increase offered by the State-run Railways board. If Mr Macmillan’s demand is rejected by the unions today, then observers think the newly-appointed Employment Minister will have no alternative but to invoke the country’s Industrial Relations Act, seeking a court order to hold a mandatory ballot among workers, and a 60-day cooling-off period. Granting such an order

would prevent the unions taking industrial action during the cooling-off period. The work-to-rule by the country’s 300,000 railwaymen, which started at midnight on Sunday after the breakdown of pay negotiations, caused angry reactions among London commuters, already wearied by long delays. Station staff were attacked, and police had to be called to several stations. ' Thousands packed London’s 1 commuter stations, waiting i for trains that did not run. I Police in the city of Lon- . don have introduced special emergency parking regula- • tions to deal with the maa- ’ sive influx of motorists using ’ their cars to get to work in a bid to beat the railway ’ chaos. Roads in and out of 1 the city were packed tight. 1 Public opinion seems ; largely against the work-to- ■ rule railwaymen, but they are ! still determined to win their fight for better pay and conI ditions. One railwayman put it: s "We want a fair deal—a livt ing wage without having to • work round the clock to get i it.” ; Already observers are i forecasting no trains at all by ; Wednesday, although British ' Rail says that it should be able to maintain some sort of • service.