FOOTSORE LONDON.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3597, 1 April 1924, Page 5

FOOTSORE LONDON.

ANXIOUS REGARDING DECISION. OTHER GRADES MAKE NEW DEMANDSOVER TWO MILLIONS CONCERNED. [By Electric Cable —Copyright] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] (Received Monday, 9 p.m) LONDON, March 31. There is intense anxiety in London regarding the result of the ballot of train and omnibus strikers, though the tone of the speeches at the meeting on Sunday gives the hope that the men were prepared to accept a settlement Unfortunately, similar troubles are threatening in many directions. The ‘‘Dally Herald” states that in section after section of industry, demands for higher wages are reaching a crisis. In the mines, building, engineering and wool trades the unrest. bred of insufficient wages is crystalising into official claims. Over two million, workers are concerned. Meanwhile, the employers are prepar. ing fOp another attack. This time the object is to bring down the wages or the sheltered trades, that is, the inland transport, railways. postal workers and civil servants, to the level against which the unsheltered trades are in revolt. The "Herald” sums up: “The workers immediately affected by th© demand for higher wages are, Mining, (800,000); building, (720,000); shipyards, (100,000): engineering, (50,000); textiles, (50, 000); trams, (17,000); and other trades, (50,000.) The strike of coal trimmers at Leith threatens to affect all ports in Britain. It commenced a week ago. Other Firth of Forth ports intervened and now the trimmers hav© been ordered to resum© work, pending headquarters making the Leith dispute a national question. , PILOTS’ WAGES. COMBINE’S THREAT COUNTERED (Received Monday, 9,5 p.m) LONDON, March 31. Pilots, mechanics employed in the civil aviation aerodrome at Croydom, threaten a wages strike. A combine, including the Daimler, Handley-Page and Instone companies, proposes drastic cuts from the present rates, whereunder pilots are paid from £450 to £550 a year, plus ten shillings an hour. A pilot who earns £BSO thus travels 60,000 miles yearly The combine proposes to pay from £IOO to £2OO a year, plus twopence a mile, whereby a pilot flying 60,000 miles would only receive £6OO to £7OO, The aviators formed a trade union, which Mr Ben Tillett and other Transport Workers’ Union leaders addressed, threatening to stop all aeroplane traffic on Tuesday unless th© combine climbs down. The combine receives a subsidy of a million sterling, spread over a decade.

COLD STORAGE WORKERS. “SNARLING DOGS" AND LABOUR. (Received Monday, 7 p m. LONDON, March 30. The Thames Cold Storage works threaten to strike this week failing a settlement of the dispute that is arising. The workers’ complaint la that the cold storage employers are not honouring the national wages agreement. The demands mainly concern the wages of night workers. The employers offered an increase of ten shillings weekly, which was refused. As an indication of the probable favourable result of the tram and bus ballot, a crowded meeting of strikers in London applauded Mr Bevin’s speech describing the terms of a great victory, and hinting at the necessity of moderation in order not to embarrass the Labour Government,whom snarling dogs were trying to turn out on this issue and declaring that if Mr Baldwin had been in power, he would have faced even more bitter strikes.