Page:Engines and men- the history of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen. A survey of organisation of railways and railway locomotive men (IA enginesmenhistor00rayniala).pdf/262

Chapter XIX

 

1917 Conciliation Scheme—The National Programme—The Committee on Production—Another Advance—The Stream of War Traffic—Tributes to Railway Workers—Women as Engine Cleaners—The Gretna Disaster—Presentation to Mr. Wride—District Councils—The Comb Out—Luxury Spending—Extra Food Allowance.

 

There is little need for me to deal with the 1914 Railway Conciliation Scheme, as agreed upon before the war, and allowed to remain in abeyance by a mutual agreement dated October 1st, 1914, following the outbreak of the war. The agreement was reached at a meeting between the General Managers' Committee, the A.S.L.E. & F. and the N.U.R., and it provided, as I have already indicated, that the Conciliation Scheme dated December 11th, 1911, should remain in force, and that the men's side on each of the several railways as then constituted should continue to act, provided that any of the three parties might give six weeks' notice ta determine the agreement. It was further agreed that all existing contracts and conditions of service should remain in operation, and that no new agreements should be made during the suspensory period. The scheme, therefore, which was printed, and was to have become operative on December 1st, 1914, remained in suspense, and we come to the resumption of the story of that remarkable year 1917 before we find a further attempt on the part of the Society to establish new machinery for presenting the claims of its members to the employers.

208