CRISIS LIKELY

Northern Advocate, 3 May 1932, Page 6

CRISIS LIKELY

SOUTHERN TRAMWAY MEN. NO AGREEMENT YET. VOLUNTEERS OFFERING. (Per Press Association.—Copyright.) GITR ISTOIIUROH, This Day. The tramway men and the tramway board have still failed to reach an agreement, and a tram strike tomorrow appears certain. “Strike or no strike, there will be a service tomorrow,” declared officials of the board. Fifty applications have been received from volunteers, many of whom are said to be competent. “There is no truth in the allegation that the Tramway Board would welcome a strike as a means of crushing the union, ’’ declared Mr E. H. Andrews, chairman of the board. “We recognise the men's right to have a union, but we do not recognise their right to tell the board how to run the trams."

If there is a strike tomorrow, officials state that the service will of necessity be a shortened one. Details as to timetables will be published at the earliest possible moment.

Union officials state that the men arc firm, and are not alarmed by the board’s throats.

The board will meet the .Mayor, Mill. G. Sullivan, M.P., and the Deputy Mayor this afternoon to discuss the situation, which is causing a certain amount of anxictv.

It was reported at noon that a section of the men showed signs of weakening and that this is the reason why the Mayor is intervening in the dispute, having been asked to interview the hoard, with a view to reopening negotiations, so that a settlement can he reached. On the other hand, union officials say that the revoking of the decision to strike was not even considered at a meeting of the men this morning. They also say that the men who go out on strike will not hand in their equipment this evening, as demanded hy the hoard. While the hoard understands that the decision to strike -was reached on a. small majority after a show of hands, the secretary of the union, Mr E. Snow, declares that a secret ballot was taken on Sunday.

The reason for the threatened strike, it is alleged, is not primarily the objection to rationing. The men claim that the 12 men dismissed have been victimised and they demand their reinstatement. These men include one Avith 17 years' service, and the majority between 7 and 12 years’ service. The union states that they are being dismissed because of their “actiA’ities in industrial and-political fields,’’ or because they “had opposed unjust punishment inflicted by the board’s officers.” The president of the union, Mr J. Mathison, is one of the dismissed men. At present it is intended to confine the dispute to the traffic men in the tram service.