RAILWAY SETTLEMENT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 88, 7 January 1908, Page 5

RAILWAY SETTLEMENT.

, . . v ■; ■ ' ANOTHER DANGER. .' •T IBIBfIEAPH—PEEJ3 ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. London, January 5. . ■ Mr. Richard 8011, M.P., on behalf of the . Amalgamated Society, of. Railway Servants, of .frhich ho is'secretary, complains that' the London and North-Wostern Railway Company is taking a ballot of its employees as to whether they are willing' that', tho companiesshall bear ; the whole, cost of ' Conciliation Boards , and arbitration v proceedings under ' the : now scheme instead of tho companies and the employees sharing the cost. Mr.-'Bell' clc-ciiirosthftt tliLs 'isrfi --yioliition of the spirit of the'agreoment,; and a transparent attempt to pack tho Conciliation Boards with non-Union men. ■ "The Times"'thus sums up'-the agreement' arranged,:through Mr.' Lloyd-George's "mediation :-rThe merit of the compromise which Mr. Lloyd-Georgo has carried through lies in the fact, that -it•.recognises" the claim of the m en.'for . more- direct access to the : employers and their, more responsible representatives; but does not involve . that "recognition" of a , society as tho general.intervener in every dis- . pute, which would work. disastrously. for- the companies, the pnblic, and the men themselves. .On every railway that is a party to the,'settlement, • the : railwaymen are to be divided into convenient groups, for ouch of which a Conciliation Board will be formed of representatives, of tho company and ; the men. These, boards will take cognisance of all diaputesabout wages, hours of labour, and so lorth, arising in the group it represents. Largo railway systems will: be' further divided into convenient sections, in each of which each fpoup .will have a Bectional Conciliation Board Any disputo which a Conciliation Board may fail to ' Bottle will be appealed to a central Conciliation Board, composed of representatives of the and of the Conciliation boards for allthe groups. Should an amicable settlement baffle even that body, the question at- 165ue will bei referred to an arbitrator chosen jointly by the Speaker of the Houso of Commons and by the Master of the Rolls, or by one:of them, should the other be absent or incapacitated. The decision of that arbitrator, is to' be final and binding upon both parties. -It need hardly be said that any decision amved at by a Conciliation Board is equally to-be. recognised as binding by both parties. After six years; either party mav give notice that it desires to withdraw from thfl agreement, at the end of twelve months.