London Busmen Want Overtime Ban from January
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FROM OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT
LLONDON busmen are expected to approve a new ban on overtime from January I unless there is a last-minute change in London Transport's proposal for reducing bus services still further in the New Year. A final decision is due to be taken next Wednesday at a joint delegate conference of central and country bus garages,
A decision to approve the ban seems to be a foregone conclusion, as a central bus delegate conference, which consisted of 70 of the 99 London Transport garages, decided on the ban last week by 63 votes to seven. So unless there is a massive change of mind the ban is certain to be approved.
The., day before the delegate conference met, the busmen's negotiating committee had another meeting with representatives of the London Transport Board to protest about the proposed further cuts and to urge the Board to reconsider them. It was made clear to the committee that falling passenger traffic made further reductions in schedules unavoidable. They would be carried out on routes where special surveys had shown them to be justified. The men's response was to bring forward. the overtime ban which originally had been planned for February 3. If it does come it will quickly cripple London's bus services.
An overtime ban a year ago took 1,000 of London Transport's fleet of 6,000 buses off the roads and led to the setting up of the Phelps Brown committee of inquiry and to substantial pay increases for the busmen. The men now claim that London Transport's proposals are in breach of the committee's recommendation that there should be no further contraction of services.
Rigger Impact Now The busmen claim that the reviewed ban on overtime would have an even bigger impact on services than it had last year, as the staff shortage has worsened since then. But London Transport deny this. The shortage, it was stated, had been reduced from about 3,000 to 2,400.
Apart from the general dispute over schedules, a large part of London's East End was expected to be without buses over Christmas because of a decision by men at Poplar to strike from 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve until midnight on Boxing Day because of dissatisfaction with the offer of special payment for Boxing Day working.
Colombo Trolleybuses to Go? The scrapping of the 60-strong fleet of trolleybuses operated by the Colombo Municipal Council, Ceylon, is now almost certain. A recommendation by the transport committee that the system should be abandoned has been approved by the city's finance committee. The system is reported to be losing Rs 2m. each year, and 10 trolleybuses are immobilized at the moment because of the lack of essential spares. Last month the transport committee stopped authorizing the import of spares; it is expected that in the event of the system closing Ceylon Transport Board buses will operate on the trolleybus routes.