British crisis talks fail

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33434, 16 January 1974, Page 13

British crisis talks fail

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, January 15. To many political commentators in London, a snap General Election, on a platform of “Who rules the country, the Government or the unions?” seems certain after the failure of talks between the Government and the T.U.C. last night over the coalminers’ wage claim.

The Secretary of State for Employment (Mr William Whitelaw) emerged from the five-hour talks saying that he

regarded the negotiations as having been adjourned, rather than ended; and Mr Len Murray, the general secretary of the T.U.C., said that although he was deeply disappointed that no agreement had been reached, the plan was still on the table. The T.U.C. formula would allow the miners to have a pa}' rise above the limits set by the Government’s antiinflation pay regulations, but with a pledge that other unions would not make this a springboard for their own claims.

Britain’s industrial and economic crisis, which has led to mass unemployment and a three-day working week, had already deepened earlier yesterday, when the train-drivers’ union announced a 24-hour strike by its 29,000 members in support of their pay demands, from midnight. The other two railway unions have refused to accept smaller pay rises, to allow the drivers to have more from the total package permissible under the antiinflation pay laws. The largest of the three unions, the National Union of Railwaymen, instructed its station staff, signallers, and other members to continue normal working today, in spite of the drivers’ strike.