Railway Wages The recommendations of the • National Tribunal which
has • examined the claims of the National Union of Railwaymen and the Railway Clerks' Association for a restoration of the. " cuts " imposed in 1981, was pub- lished on Friday. Sir Arthur Salter, its chairman, must be congratulated on bringing the tribunal to a unanimous decision. The findings differ from the proposals pre- viously rejected by a delegates' conference of the N.U.R. in restoring the standard rate of a time and a quarter for overtime pay. The " cut " of 2i per cent. in all earnings is replaced by a cut of 1+ per cent. ; the changes will mean an addition of £1,100,000 to the companies' wages bill, but their success in their recent rating appeals puts them in a position to meet the demand. The Tribunal did not differentiate between the various com- panies, classes of investors and wage-earners, but only examined how the companies' revenues were to be distributed between investors and wage-earners as a whole. A delegates' conference is to be called next week to consider the terms, but the Union leaders can hardly fail to recommend the acceptance of conditions which improve on those which they themselves earlier advised the men to accept. It remains to he seen whether the delegates, this time. will show greater confidence in their leaders' judgement ; and there remains the difficult question of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen's separate and larger claims, which include demands for the six-hour day and annual holidays of fourteen days with pay.
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