BRITISH RAILWAYS WAGES

Taranaki Daily News, 19 January 1933, Page 5

BRITISH RAILWAYS WAGES

-SMALLER CUTS ACCEPTED. ——— v . COMPANIES SPRING SURPRISE <s • ’ ■ F ■ .’ '■ . • i • BOARD’S DEADLOCK ENDED REDUCTIONS NEXT MONTH By Telegraph—Pres* Assn.— Copyright. Rec. 7 p.m. London, Jam 17. The railway companies, which claimed wages reductions totalling £5,000,000, have surprisingly accepted, the recommendations of Sir Harold Morris, chairman of the National Wages Board for Railways, in favour of a reduction only to the extent of one-fifth of the railways’ demand, though the recommendations fall far short of the merits of the ease. The recommendations are for a decrease in all wages of 4 1-6 per cent., with a further similar reduction when the pay exceeds £2 10s. The cut will be inoperative on the pay of adults who receive under •£2 a week, nor will pay be reduced below £2 a week. The cut will become operative on February 11. Union executives will meet to consider the new situation. The four grouped railway companies asked for an all-round reduction in salaries and wages of 10 per cent for the clerical and traffic grades. This would take the place of the existing reduction awarded by the National Board in March, 1931, of 21 per cent on wages and salaries up to 40s a week, and. a - further reduction of 2 J per cent over 40s a week. There was a further proposal that the existing minimum of 40s «• week should be reduced to 38s a week. The three unions concerned—the National Union of Railwaymen, the Asso- . ciated Society of Locomotive Engineers” and Firemen, and the Railway Clerks’ Association —declared . that they were not prepared to accept any cut The companies’ claim involved 500,000 railway employees in England, Scotland and Wales, in addition to something like 90,00 Q railway shopmen. The reductions made under the . March, . 1931, agreement were estimated at,; £3,660,000 a year. The latest proposals were estimated to effect a further reduction of £5,000,000.