Luckily there is in existence an elaborate system of arbitration
for railway disputes, and the present dispute will first be referred to the Central Wages Board and then, if necessary, to the National Wages Board. Thus we need fear no immediate crisis on the railways. On the other hand, we frankly doubt the possibility of the Unions ever consenting to reductions in their present wages which they have secured with such difficulty and with so much strife. It is true that they are now much better paid than many other categories of equally skilled labour, but their answer to this is that they have won this better payment by their superior organization, and that it is up to other kinds of workers to follow the lead which they have given, and not for them to reduce their .standard to that of other less well paid workers. Thns we fear that appeals to them to consider the lot of ether workers will fail on deaf ears.
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