CAB128-94_A1b — Page 104

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in the following week. He should remind the employers both of the effect on staff numbers of higher pay levels and of the scope for contracting out services. He should also examine the effects which any failure to introduce the community charge arrangements because of industrial action might have on the payment of grant to the local authorities.

The Cabinet -

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Took note, with approval, of the Prime Minister's summing up of their discussion and invited the Secretary of State for the Environment to proceed accordingly.

ONFIDENTIAL

Industrial Action in the Transport Sector

Previous Reference:

CC(89) 26.2

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT said that there were some signs movement in the dispute involving members of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and British Rail (BR). Same

Some 12500 out of 75,000 NUR members had not joined the one-day strike the previous day and BR had been able to run a very luted service. The industrial action was increasingly unpopular with the membership of the Union, especially in the South Bast, and the executive of the Union, which was meeting later that day, was under mounting pressure to see the pay dispute. Although the

the pay

the outcome was difficult to predict, it was possible that the executive would decide to send industrial action. In those circumstances, it was likely that BR management would agree to further talks about pay negotiating machinery, although it had said earlier that it would not do so unless industrial action was ended. Nevertheless, the management judged that the advantage lay in agreeing to talks if industrial action was suspended. suspended.

On the London Buses, drivers and conductors had accepted management's pay offer, and talks were in progress between the employers and the bus engineers. There were some hopeful signs of a settlement.

was

Two of the three unions concerned had either accepted or seemed ready to accept London Underground's pay offer: a meeting had been arranged for the following Tuesday between management and all three unions at which the NUR would be under considerable pressure to settle also, although likely that the one-day strike scheduled for the following Wednesday would still proceed. Solutions to the Action Stations and driver-only train disputes would take longer but there were signs that a productivity deal might provide a way forward.

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CONFIDENTIAL