BRITISH LABOUR

Grey River Argus, 16 August 1937, Page 6

BRITISH LABOUR

T.U.C. CONFERENCE. IBritish Official Wireless]. RUGBY, August 13. Holidays with pay and a shorter working week' will be the principal subjects of the industrial policy which will come up for discussion at the sixty-ninth meeting of the Trade Union Congress at Norwich next month. On the political side a large number of resolutions deal with the attitude of the Labour Party to the Government’s rearmament programme. In these there is much criticism, which, in view of last year’s proceedings, it is far from certain the congress will endorse, of the decision of the Parliamentary Labour Party last month not to go into the division lobby against the defence estimates. One resolution condemns the aggressive aims, which it attributes to “Fascist Powers,” calls for the strengthening of the League of Nations, and goes on, after recognising that the policy of collective security requires -the armed strength of the peace-loving Powers, to criticise Labour’s failure to opose the arms plans of the National Government on the grounds of the latter’s alleged sympathy with “Fascist Powers,” and its "weakness in support of real collective security”. RAILWAYMEN’S WAGE INCREASE. RUGBY, August 12. About 500,000 of Britain’s most re- , sponsible workpeople received good news when the decision of the railways staff national tribunal was - made public. Its main effect is to restore the remainder of the 1931 wage cuts, and to make other conces- < sions, costing altogether £2,900,000 J yearly. Minor concessions include the re-; ' storation of standard rates for over- ; time, the granting of leave equiva- ( lent to bank holidays, a minimum of 1 40s as the weekly base rate, and special extra pay for the lower paid 1 workers. The decision directly af- 1 fects 410,000 men, and 164,000 indi- ,i rectly. - ' 1 Railway stocks this morning appreciated in the market. .’ I