BRITISH RAILWAYS.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15895, 21 January 1924, Page 5

BRITISH RAILWAYS.

A FRUITLESS CONFERENCE. NO SUPPORT FOR DRIVERS. AN EMPHATIC CIRCULAR. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.l LONDON, January 19. A conference between the railway unions and the council of the Trades Union Congress to consider the refusal of the Associated Society, of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen to accept the Wages Board's now award, ended fruitlessly. An important circular has been issued by the National Union of Railwaymen. It is signed by Mr J. H. Thomas, M.P., and Mr C. T. Cramp, secretaries. It declares that it is incumbent on all members of the union to realise that the -honour and prestige of the'union are at stake. Any member ceasing to work is a blackleg to the signature of his accredited representatives and a traitor to tiie decision of too special general meeting. The circular appeals to members to be loyal to the union and the great causes of trades unionism and collective bargaining. The Labour correspondent of the Daily ChroDicle says that the letter from Mr Thomas and Mr Cramp moans that it the locomotive drivers and firemen strike they will strike alone with the weight of opinion of both tho industrial and Political sides of the movement against them.

The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen consists of 49,000 drivers and firemen. The National Union of ißailwaymen has 400,000 members, chiefly other grades of railwav workers, except clerks, and includes 'nearly 40,000 drivers and firemen. There is frequent friction between the two unions.