llth-hour bid to end U.K. crisis

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33448, 1 February 1974, Page 17

llth-hour bid to end U.K. crisis

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter —Copyrightt

LONDON. January 31. Britain’s 270.000 coalminers have begun voting in the secret ballot that is generally expected to support an all-out pit strike in demand for pay rises unrestricted by the (lox eminent ’s phase three anti-inflation code.

The Prime Minister (Mr Heath), however, is still hoping for an eleventh-hour peace formula based on a recent Government-ordered report by the Pay Board on the priority of individual pay claims on the ground of relativity.

After a 2j-hour Cabinet meeting, Mr Heath invited leaders of the Trades Union Congress and the Confederation of British Industry to an immediate summit meeting aimed at breaking the deadlock.

i Some Government critics say that the latest lifeline ito which Mr Heath is clinging is thin, and aimed more at clearing the Government of responsibility for a strike. Engineers pledge Mr Joe Gormley, the moderate president of the National Union of Mineworkers, has said in a personal letter to Mr Heath he will hold further talks with the Government only when more money is “on the table,” and Mr Hugh Scanlon, president of the giant Engineering Workers’ Union, has pledged his union’s backing, and that of the T.U.C., if a study of the Pay Board report leads to an agreement acceptable to the miners.

Comments by the National Coal Board chairman, Mr Derek Ezra, yesterday went some way towards confirming reports that he is playing a key behind-the-scenes role in the efforts to find a lastminute peace formula and prevent a strike which would further cripple Britain’s economy.

Mr Ezra said in a radio interview that he had written to the Secretary of State for Employment (Mr William Whitelaw) to say that the report on relative pay scales might be helpful, but he added that the miners’ position could be settled only by a full, objective review in which all parties could give evidence.

Observers say that such a process would clearly require time, and the question is still whether Mr Heath and his

Cabinet colleagues are prepared to try to use the report to break the deadlock, perhaps at the risk of one or two Ministerial resignations. Experts warning Adding to the widespread concern felt throughout Britain, an industrial relations expert, Professor Ben Roberts. of the London School of Economics, gave a warning that Britain could degenerate into a barbaric society of warring factions unless her labour problems were eased. The “Daily Mirror” reflected the national mood in a headline covering almost its entire front page: "Is everybody going bloody mad?" "the Times” carried a dozen anxious letters from readers, some of whom said that they were readv to make cash contributions if it would help solve the crisis. Another Government report, issued today, shows that Britain has lost 50 million working days through strikes in the last three years.