Aviation Specials – June 2018

Celebrating a British icon 15

across Central Buses, Country

Buses and the Green Line coach

operations; this covered all bus

crews and some engineering

staff.

London Transport, chaired

from 1953 to 1959 by senior

railwayman Sir John Elliot,

rejected the claim totally and

recommended that it be referred

to arbitration. The union’s

general secretary, Frank Cousins,

rejected that suggestion equally

vociferously.

It looked like stalemate.

Nevertheless, the two sides

began further talks on

28 December 1957. Before

this, in the autumn of 1957,

London Transport had proposed

draconian cuts to route

schedules, which the TWGU

scuppered.

However, the summer

programme introduced on

30 April 1958 included a

majority of the cuts intended in

the previous autumn’s schedules,

but as a red rag to a bull

provocation, London Transport

indicated that these cuts were

only the tip of the iceberg and

that more, equally severe, cuts

were to follow.

Adding fuel to the fire was a

decision to convert 65 RF-class

AEC Regal IV single-deckers

to one-man operation. With

all of the claims and refusals

being passed to and fro, the

TGWU requested that all be

referred for arbitration by the

Industrial Court, to which

London Transport agreed, albeit

grudgingly.

Pay claim rejected

On 11 March 1958 and in

response to all of the aggro, the

court put forward a suggestion

of an increase of 8/6d (42.5p, or

£9.78 today), but limited solely

to Central Area drivers and

conductors. The argument of

the union was that the increase

should be awarded to all staff

represented by the TGWU; the

response by Sir John Elliot was

that as the union had proposed

arbitration, it was incumbent

upon it to abide by the decision

of the court.

Frank Cousins’s answer to

that was to lodge a fresh claim

of 10/6d (52.5p, or £12.

today) for all staff, and without

60 Years Ago

ABOVE: The

lowest numbered

of the routes

withdrawn in

August 1958

following the

strike was the 4A

on which RTL770,

with Metro-

Cammell body,

was photographed

preparing to

leave Finsbury

Park station

for Camberwell

Green. A

trolleybus stands

behind.