The Railwaymen's Claims
The meeting on Monday between the general managers of the four main railway companies and the representatives of the National Union of Railwaymen resulted in a deadlock, and according to Mr. Marchbanks the dispute has entered a " highly critical " stage. What this means is difficult to say until the special delegate conference of the N.U.R. has met next week ; until now the railwaymen have refrained from threatening strike action. They may indeed claim to have acted reasonably and moderately. Together with the Railway Clerks' Association they have abandoned all claims except the demand for a 5os. minimum wage. This demand will seem by no means excessive to the general public ; it was un- conditionally rejected by the railway companies on the ground of inadequate finance, but if the demand is reasonable in itself it should be satisfied by means of a redistribution of the companies' earnings between its shareholders and its workers, who should be the first charge on industry. Unfor- tunately the dispute is complicated by the separate and ex- tensive demands put forward by the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, whose earnings gener- ally exceed the minimum wage demanded by the N.U.R. The divergence of interests is unfortunate ; a united front of all three unions in favour of the minimum wage, backed by public sympathy, might well succeed in improving the con- ditions of the lower wage-earners, while the locomotive men, in return, might hope to put forward their claims with greater success at a later stage when a further improvement has taken place in the railways' finances.
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