THE Tories are facing a major challenge. The railworkers are gearing to fight for their jobs and, given half a chance, will shunt Thatcher and her mad economic policies into a siding.
This year the British Rail pay negotiations have taken place government determined to keep public sector pay to 7 per cent and impose rigid cash limits.
But the unions have gone to the negotiating table in a much position than viously, due to the formation of a new federation bringing all the rail unions together in a joint approach.
This resulted in the claim going, on management's insistence, to an macpenacil bitrator, Lord McArthy. McArthy's nould. decided that, while it recognised union's case which argued tor a 29 per cent increase to bring wage levels back to 1975 values, this was not possible in the present economic climate.
The award they proposed herefore was an 8 per cent in back ated t with an extra 3 per cent to be paid from August.
The Tribunal made it clear that it opposed any increase beSocialist Challenge ' 13 August 1981 Wing tied to productivity strings and stated that up workers were the most and had the lowest pay, of all their European counterparts. The Rail under orders from Whitehall, refused to accept the 3 per cent payment unless a whole package of productivity was agreed. The most serious being for one person operation of trains, the abolition of the 8 hour day and the introduction of continental shifts.
Management want
pre- workers to work anything from 3 hours per day to 10 hours per # a or gol week. Split shifts would also be introduced, especially for train crews and Sunday work would become part of the normal forty hour week.
would result in the loss of the the guard and the driver's assistant and would place still responsibility on the driver 34,000 jobs have gone since 1970 and the British Rail Board are looking for another 38,000 by 1985 by already agreed productivity deals.
April, posals would take railworkers back to une 1880's misery of the 'profits lives' policy of the private companies.