REDUCTION IN WAGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20722, 15 November 1930, Page 11

REDUCTION IN WAGES.

RAILWAYS IN BRITAIN. ' PROPOSAL TO UNIONS. ' ■_ ' # # * .v ALL GRADES AFFECTED. ACCEPTANCE UNLIKELY. By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. (Received November 14. 6.5 p.m.) LONDON. Nov. 13. The British fauvvay companies, after slating as a simple truth that they cannot continuo their present expenditure on labour, have asked tho unions to accept heavy reductions in wages in all grades. They propose an immediate reduction of 6s a week for adult males and 3s a week for females and junior males. Members of tho salaried staff earning £IBO to £250 a year would have a reduction of £2O, and those £BO and £l7O a reduction of £lO.

Payment will be made only for time actually worked. Tho standard hours will include Sunday duty. Overtime will be paid at the rate of time and a-quarter. The companies competition of other -forms of transport 1 with high operative costs. Wages were £47,000,000 in 1913 and £115,000.000 in 1929. The traflic receipts for 1930 would probably be £10,500,000 below those of 1929. Tho railway unions are preparing counter-proposals. Mr. C. T. Cramp, the general secretary of the National Union of Railwnymen, says the cuts will bo resisted to the last ditch. He describes the demands as absurd, and intimates that neither they nor anything akin are acceptable to the union. He estimates that the cuts will mean a saving of £7,000,000 in wages.