Sia,—Your valuable and cogent articles about the fall in the
social and economic standards of bank staffs and teachers could be applied equally to the conditions of local government officers. We speak only for a somewhat specialised section of them — upwards of 10,000 'blackcoated' workers of the London County Council who cover a varied range of administrative, professional, technical and clerical occupations. Their duties are equally varied, relating as they do to the provision of * schools, health services, houses, and the con- duct of many other public activities which are vital to the well-being of London's 3,500,000 people. Thc scope and variety of the Council's work have led it to require high professional and educational qualifications of those who enter its employment.
Our members, in 1947, in the light of the 'social revolution' which had reduced the dif- ference between their standard of living and that of the mass of manual workers, agreed to new post-war salar'y standards which, though lower than what they then believed to be justi- fiable, were not altogether out of keeping with the standards of living of other workers of like social status. Since then, a lamentable fall in the standards has taken place which the County Council has so far declined to remedy in full.
There have been some adjustments since 1947 but these have never been as much as the circumstances demanded, and the fall in the relation of salaries to prices since 1947 now stands at 18+ per cent. We shall return to our endeavours to restore our members' living standards to those of 1947 after the Council election on March 31.—Yours faith-
Secretary
London County Council Staff Association
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