§ 38. Mr. G. TERRELLasked the Minister of Transport if he can make any statement with regard to the new Railway Committee?
§ The MINISTER of TRANSPORT (Sir E. Geddes)It will be convenient if I explain the position as regards the negotiations with the railway companies and men. There are three aspects.
The first point is the present negotiations on wages. On this, as the Prime Minister stated last Thursday, no public statement can yet be made. I fully appreciate the anxiety of the House and will make one at the earliest moment possible.
The second point is that an arrangement has been come to between the Government and the two unions concerned in the conciliation grades on the railways that, apart from the present negotiations, questions of wages and conditions of service shall, during the period of the present control of railways, under the Ministry of Transport Act, be dealt with by a Central Board, consisting of five railway managers and five representatives of the trade unions, the latter being composed as to three from the National Union of Railway men and two from the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Fire-men, with power to each side to add a sixth member.
Failing agreement by this Central Board, matters in dispute and belonging to the category mentioned—namely, wages and conditions of service—will be referred to a National Wages Board, consisting of four railway managers, four railway workers (or their representatives), and four users of railways (of which one shall be nominated by the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress, one by the Co-operative Union, one by the Federation of British Industries, after consultation with other industrial organisations, and one by the Associated Chamber of Commerce, after similar consultation) with an independent chairman appointed by the Government. It has been agreed by the unions concerned that no strike shall take place on account of a dispute arising on these matters until one month after the question in dispute has been referred to the National Wages Board.
Local committees, to which matters of purely local and other than national importance are to be referred, will be set up, and discussions are taking place a the present time as to their constitution, scope and functions.
The third matter which has formed the subject of conversation with the railway- 888 men is their representation in connection with the control exercised under the Ministry of Transport Act.
The Railway Executive Committee—as such—will cease to exist (probably on 1st January), and an Advisory Committee will then be set up. It will consist of twelve general managers and four representatives of the workers.
I will have the names of this Committee printed in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ The following are the names of the Advisory Committee:
- Mr. C. Aldington, Great Western Railway.
- Mr. J. Bromley, Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen.
- Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth, North-Eastern Railway.
- Mr. C. T. Cramp, National Union of Railwaymen.
- Mr. C. H. Dent, Great Northern Railway.
- Sir Francis Dent, South-Eastern and Chatham Railway.
- Sir Sam Fay, Great Central Railway.
- Sir William Forbes, London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.
- Mr. D. A. Matheson, Caledonian Railway.
- Mr. F. Tatlow, C.B.E., Midland Railway.
- Right Hon. J. H. Thomas, M.P., National Union of Railwaymen
- Sir Henry Thornton, K.B.E., Great Eastern Railway.
- Mr. A. G. Walkden, Railway Clerks' Association.
- Sir Herbert Walker, K. C. B, London and South Western Railway.
- Mr. Arthur Watson, C.B.E., Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.
- Sir Thomas Williams, London and North Western Railway