Chronicle December 1962 ‐ March 1963
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1963.tb00994.x |
| Published date | 01 October 1963 |
| Date | 01 October 1963 |
| Author | Robert F. Banks |
Chronicle
December
1962
-
March
1963
DECEMBER
Electricity
supply
industry
pay
dispute
December
19.
The unions in the electricity supply
industry rejected the Central Electricity Council’s
offer of a three year agreement providing an annual
increase of
3
per cent. plus a productivity bonus
scheme. The unions were willing to accept a produc-
tivity scheme, but demanded an all-round wage
increase of four pence per hour. The claim of the
unions amounted
to
a sum twice as large as that
offered by the Council.
December
27.
Electricity workers at five power stations
under the leadership
of
an unofficial shop stewards’
organization decided to ban overtime and ‘work to
rule’ from the next Tuesday in protest against the
slow
response to their pay claim.
January
I.
The shop stewards’ committee claimed that
26
power stations, mostly in London, were backing
the
‘
work to rule
’.
The Council estimated that only
the Woolwich and Battersea stations were giving the
campaign support.
January
3.
After
15
hours of fruitless negotiations, pay
talks broke down once again. The Electricity Council
offered to withdraw
its
original proposals and instead
to grant an increase in wages of approximately
4+
per
cent.; the agreement to run from April
1
and to
last
one year. The unions rejected this offer, but refused
arbitration which they feared could not produce a
satisfactory settlement.
January
8.
The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) decided
to ask the other four unions to recommend an over-
time ban if negotiations on the next Friday were not
fruitful. On the other hand, both the Amalgamated
Engineering Union and the National Union of
General and Municipal Workers were in favour
of
arbitration if negotiations did not succeed.
262
To continue reading
Request your trial