Railway Workers
Sias—I feel bound to protest at the tone of the remark in your leader Devaluation is Not Enough about " the pace of railwaymen even when they are not going slow." I have yet to see any shop assistant under private enterprise move at half the speed that we have to during busy periods. And bookings, enquiries and other services vary as much, if not more, than the work of the shop assistant. Surely you realise that such crude generalisations are wasted on the thick-skinned, and only serve to depress those who are trying to do their duty. Again, remarks about constant rises in wages are an irritation to those of us who have had one rise since returning from six and a half years of the Army. Yet even now the Railway Clerks' Association has stood aside from the demand for increased pay, but gets no thanks from your writer for so doing. As for paying our way; at the station where I work the receipts for last year were over eight times the amount paid in salaries and wages to staff (stationmaster, clerks, porters, signalmen, &c.). Admittedly one must allow for tremendous overheads, but we find it hard to consider this as the produce of slacking. Can you explain why economists are horrified .11 the thought of the road services in the Newcastle area helping to pay for the rail service. but think that it is quite right for the suburban sown ticket holder to help to pay for the services on miles of branch line ? I am afraid that I cannot give my name and address, as these, coupled with my remarks about receipts and wages, might be interpreted as "divulging the Company's business."—Yours faithfully,
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