CITY TRAMWAYMEN.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1223, 4 September 1911, Page 4

CITY TRAMWAYMEN.

THE COUNCIL AND THE UNION.

A largely-attended meeting of the Trail* way Employees' Union was held yesterday for the purpose of discussing various . • " HUI ! 'iW'on being that at fi'mMi ' ' SS "' 3 ! J . t j lwtl ' ll llle corporation nil the union with regard to (lie Uvuiii°st«r and conditions of work, and which has been "o:i the board," to to tspcak, sme-3 as far back as October last. Jliis question was reiorrud bv Ul3 tramways Committee of the Citv'Coun-' cil lo a .sub-comniilko, which subsequent, ly met lite representatives of tho union, anil debated Die burning subject of tlio rosier. '1 ho union submitted a roster wnieli, it was claimed, would achieve the tramway ntiller.inium, far as conditions ot labour and goneral c/iieiency all round were concerned, but the corporation's oftcers were unable to agree with lite men I hat (hull 1 roster would aehieve what was oJaimed tor it. Iho next phase of the "jiourparlers," to quote the language of diplomacy, was a decision by tho council to allow its officers lo design a new roster which would meet as far as possible certain conditiooa Mm asked ior by tj 10 men, a.nd at . sa i ni ,° , Imo , OVOT come what wero const dorcd to bo defects in tho union roster. n S n 1S !' o,v . lng Propai-ed. iloth tho union and the corporation ollihU™ """i 0 , c^'- v desiroHs of a speedy settlement o! tho whole business, for variseUli'mciit ma " crs hinge upon tliat Hio°r^ Xa S I,l<! ' !" as IMCIIl MCII ""Possiblo for the Lily Council bo address itsslf to tho important task of considering whether or not it can give effect to the reI commendations embodied in the tramway I engineers report, which was presented some months ago, for certain of theso recommendations depend upo.ii tho general condition ot the tramway roster.- Tho new freight-car service is hung un for tho same reason.

In the meantime the union has considerctl tho possibility of an unsatisfactory termination of the present negotiations between it and the council, and the contingent prospect of proceeding by way of tho Conciliation Council aud the Arbitration Court. As certain formalities with jogard to this latter course arc required by the Act, tlio union lias decided to (lispose of theso in tho meantime, so that should an appeal to the Conciliation Council be necessary, the machinery will be set in motion right away. The first requirement of tho Act is that o. special meeting of the union must bo In i° do ,vlwt hor oi' not a ballot shall bo taken on tlio question of an anjieal to tlio Conciliation Council. This formality was disposed of at tho meeting yesterday. Other matters wero also dealt with, but these arc, for the present at least, regarded as strictly private.