Railmen's runs OUT over pay

BY.ẠN sider 'united action'. MDW pla at Albion At present the Albion are on a four-day week.

AN AMERICAN ing 'missionary Ulster said yester like to see all Pro holders armed.

The Rev Paul minister of the Christian Liberty' This body-formed last -has about 500 members around Chicago.

Lindstrom Belfast-his land-seeing INDUSTRIAL REPORTER.... THE UNOFFICIAL work-to-rul Region drivers began yesterday • the three unions involved in the This action is an indication that some, rail workers are fed up with the prolonged negotia'tions. Ihey are the last major group in the nationalized in•dustries to have their pay claim considered by the Tory governIn London today the executives of the three unions-ASLEF, the National Union of Railwaymen and the Transport and Salaried Staffs' Association—meet to conTalks broke down last week when British Rail refused to increase basic rates by more than 9 per cent. The so-called 'new offer' was simply a juggling of the figures, one of the union negotiators said.

The unions are demanding a 16-per-cent increase.

A BR spokesman said commuter services were not disrupe, but he stepressed ankitty about freight services in the Stratford area.

Other branches planning action are Southend, Shoeburyness, Ilford and Colchester.

There is also the threat of strike action by Southern Region and London Underground drivers unless there is a satisfactory conclusion to the negotiations by next Monday.

MANAGEMENT at the Albion motor works, Scotstoun, Glasgow, is • proposing introduce Measured-Day Work. . The scheme will increase basic rates by £1.50 with a total increase of f4 in the first stage of the deal which will include a grading system.

The proposal-part of BritishLeyland's combine-wide MDW strategy-has been accepted by the shop • stewards' committee to be recommended to. a. mass meeting of men, probably next Arm all Protestants says ministe raismoney for mone! for day he would estant houseLindstrom, a 'Church of (non-denominational) at Prospect Heignts, Chicago, is one of the organizers of the Friends of N Ireland Committee.

month in and spent Mon lay in first visit to N IreProtestant British R eve of t ay claim.

talk hides UNIONS will not negotiate the terms of to the Tory govern- their surrender ment, says lim Conway, right-wing general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, in an article out today., But if Conway has his own way, they, won't fight it, either., In an editorial in the April issue of his union's journal, he refers to 'speculation ..

about the begining of a dialogue between the government and the unions'.

He does not refer directly to the March 10 meeting between Tory premier Edward Heath • and the lUC General Council, which led AUEW president Hugh Scanlon to speculate that the abrasiveness between unions and government might be softened. That would be too close to home.

Conway claims, however, in a militant-sounding passage, that 'the only subject the government would discuss with us . : . was the terms of our own surrender.

'Having tried unsuccessfully to implement an incomes policy the public sector and to divide the move:

including At a press conference in London yesterday on the steps of Paul's Cathedral, announced his organization would aid Protestant victims of attacks. The Catholics, he said, already • are receiving aid from America'.

He would also seek to expose individuals in the Catholic Church 'giving aid and comfort ail's• E alks br Conway's 'left' own union's role Chicago minister leaders, Paisley.

BRITISH the grip recovery, special pr vey of 5( out by But with ing at up to CORRESPONDENT ment with the Industrial Relations Act, the government is now trying a new approach.' This, Conway will not work.

'How can we ignore the anti-union testation passed this century? How can we forget the Post Office workers, the nuncipal. workers, and he miners all lorded into long and damaging strikes by the government's attitude?' The AUEW secretary —soon to stand again for re-election to his post-is clearly quite capable of forgetting if not the events themselves, at least the role he and the other AUEW leaders played in them.

•Does the government believe that after such a programme of attack against the workers, the trade unions will not sit down and talk about ways we can assist in keeping the government in power?' he asks.

Well, the March 10 meeting indicates that the Tories believe they will. And they have good reason for their belief.

After all it was Conway and the AUEW executive who, on the eve of the miners' strike, cold - bloodedly abandoned the fight for their members' pay BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT ATS claim level. 'Our union', Conway goes on, 'is on record as being opposed to any incomes policy. The AUEW however, is 'not ... against planning'.

The union secretary's plea for a is, of planned society course, strictly academic. 'If this . . . sounds liké a plea for socialist to terrorists'.

Lindstrom made it clear that he was not concerned that money he would raise might be spent on arms. He would stipulate that cash would not go to people who might use arms for offensive purposes. (!)

But he felt that 'Protestants should be armed so that they are better able to defend themselves when the situation deteriorates, as we feel it will as the months go by". at a national