CONFIDENTIAL
Page 49
Association were threatening to mount a 24-hour stoppage in the following week and two such stoppages in the week after that; and there was also the possibility of strike action by dock workers. Strike action by all those workers might coincide in the week beginning 10 July. These disputes all involved public sector workers, with the exception of the protest over the abolition of the Dock Labour Scheme which nevertheless had a public sector element to it. A common theme to the disputes was that they were concerned not only with pay but also with the modernisation of working practices, on which the private sector had generally made
necessary changes several years previously.
ONFIDENTIA
Industrial Action in the
Transport Sector
Previous
Reference
CC(89) 22.2
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT said that the previous day industrial action by members of the National Union of Railwaymen NUR) had resulted in no trains running on British Rai (BR) and minimal services on the London Undergrounlondon Buses had operated normally, indeed some additional services had been provided, although traffic congestion in London
London had
had been considerable. Members of the gamated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (As had now voted overwhelmingly for 24 hour stoppages on the London Underground, and a further day of industrial action the London Underground, British Rail and London Buses was expected the following Wednesday. A variety of disputes were involved. On the London Underground these involved pay for drivers of single manned trains and the introduction of London Underground Limited's Action Stations proposals providing for the promotion of station staff on merit rather than on the basis of seniority. London Underground was determined to stand firm on its proposals. Talks with the NUR on pay productivity were continuing er the auspices of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. On London Buses, the dispute was about pay, and there were some small signs of movement by the union involved, the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU). On British Rail there were disputes about pay and about thetroduction of decentralised pay bargaining arrangements British Rail management was determined to see the latter introduced, about which there was ample time for negotiation as it was not envisaged that the new arrangements wou begin to operate until November. As regards the Beh Rail dispute on pay, the right course under the stry's agreed procedures was for the NUR and ASIEF to take their grievances to the Railways Staff National Tribuna he other rail union, the Transport Salaried Association, had already done, but they had so far dec to do this. British Rail management were mounting an
and
2
ENTIAL
Page 49
CONFIDENTIAL
Page 49