HC Deb 24 February 1930 vol 235 cc1836-7
3. Mr. FREEMAN

asked the Secretary of State for India whether the railway strike on the Great Indian Peninsular Railway has been settled and on what terms; what are the present wages of each class of workers on this railway; and is there any variation in wages or conditions contemplated or promised?

Mr. BENN

Only a small percentage of the employés are participating in the dispute. No settlement had been reached last Friday, and I have had no later news From the Government of India's communique, which I am having circulated, my hon. Friend will see that the conditions of service of the employés had for some time been receiving careful and sympathetic consideration of Government, whose proposals were reaching the final stage when the dispute occurred.

Mr. WARDLAW-MILNE

Is it not a fact that there have been, in addition to the proposals which have been made, considerable advances in wages within the last few years on the railways in India?

Mr. BENN

I have not the detailed knowledge to answer the question, but I think the lower paid grades were recently improved.

Following is the communique:

COMMUNIQUÉ, DATED 7TH FEBRUARY, 1930.

"The Government of India wish to place before the public the latest information in their possession with regard to the strike at present occurring on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. From a report which they have received from the Agent of the railway, it appears that about 20,000 men struck work on the 4th February, of whom 13,000 were employed in the workshops at Parel, Matunga, Jhansi and Manmad, and 7,000 were staff concerned with the movement of traffic On the following day the workshop hands at Jhansi and most of those at Manmad, a total of nearly 5,000 men, returned to duty and over a thousand of the other staff also came back to work. But on the 6th February the men in the Jhansi shops again went on strike and on that day therefore there were about 12,500 workshop employés out, and about 6,000 staff concerned with the movement of traffic.

The principal area affected by the strike of the operating staff is in the lower portion of the Bombay Division. The Jubbulpore Division has not been affected at all, and the trouble on the Bhusawal, Jhansi and Sholapur Divisions is of a minor character. Passenger traffic is moving freely all over the line and so is goods traffic except in the Bombay Division. It should be added that the total number of the staff on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway concerned with the moving of traffic is nearly 100,000, of whom only some 7,000 have gone on strike.

The Government of India wish gratefully to acknowledge the loyalty of the great majority of their employés on the railway who have refused to join the strike, in spite of the pressure put on them to do so. The Government of India also desire to explain the position with regard to the demands of the union, as was explained by the Agent of the railway in a statement which he issued to the Press.

When the President and the Standing Committee of the Great Indian Peninsula Railwaymen's Union threatened to declare this strike, the demands put forward by the union on behalf of its members had either been dealt with already or were being actively and considerately examined both by the Railway Administration and by the Government of India, and the Government of India wish to give their employés an assurance that the least possible time will be allowed to elapse before the outstanding requests of the men are dealt with.

In particular, new and more generous leave rules for the lower-paid staff have been prepared and are likely to be brought into force in the course of a few weeks and a revision of the scales of pay of the lower-paid employés has been engaging attention for several months, and their proposals in regard to it are nearly ready. This was explained to the union before the strike was declared.

The Government of India are content to leave it to the public to judge whether, at a time when it was known to the union that the demands of the men were under active and sympathetic consideration, it was in the best interests of the men themselves to call a strike, and especially a strike which, so far as it affected public utility services, was bound to cause inconvenience to the public, and whether the choice of the time does not indicate that the action of the union in calling the strike was dictated not by a regard for the economic interests of its members, but by outside influences."