from Fred Styles "When, in our annual report to you in March, we referred to the rising costs of distribution ‘extending fairly rapidly', we certainly did not have in mind the unjust , ill-conceived Selective Employment Tax which the Government have now imposed and which, in a full year, could cost the Society £360,000 per annum, or the equivalent of 23d in the £ on our total sales, This comes on top of a succession of mounting costs, Nations) Insurance, rates, loss of investment allowances, over which we have little or no control, and there is nothing to indicate the presenttrend will not continuess. Firstly, we are very concerned with the effect on retail prices. very endeavour will be wade to keep prices down, but the manufacturera' prices continue to rise, unfortunately, and our ability to do so wll depend upon a high rate of sales increase, and efforts to trim operating costs. Otherwise the tax will affect profitability. Secondly, we are concerned with the effect of the Tax on our ability to attract sufficient staff to maintain a good standard of service to customers. In the past six years, the staff complement has been reduced by 700, equal to 8% Part-time staff increased by over 700, Staff reduction has come about isainly through development of supermarkets, self-service and self-selection, and mechanisation in productive plants and offices, and the closing of small uneconomic units, Total wages paid in the same period have increased by 25%. One of the many injustices brought about by the tax is that we shall have to make a payment of 12/6d for part-time women and 25/- for part-time men, the same as for full-time staff, This is hardly likely to encouraze the use of part-timers, There is not mch we can do to effect more staff rationalisation and in any case the loss of investment allowances will not encourage the mechanisation of warehouses,etc. Perhaps the Chancellor would like to see all delivery services abolished and housewives forced to collect all milk and bread from shops. At present each one of our dairy rounds delivers an average of 59° pints of milk each day to 475 customers. Payment of S.=.T. in res, \ of these staff means, in effect, that we shall be subsidising manufacti ‘s of toy balloons and candy floss! eseit will cost the Government £750,00u to operate, and add to all firms! administrative costs, without achievin,, anybhin, to renedy the fundamental defects of the country's economy, and so directly or indirectly, the consumers will pay."
The following resolution and amendment will be considered by the Royal Arsenal Cooperative Society at its June meeting: Resolution: "It is considered that the Selective Employment Tax will be inimical to the best interests of this Society", Amendment: "Delete all after the word 'that' in line one and substitute ‘Britain's economic problems can only be solved in a society in which the people have control over the means of production, distribution and exchange and that Cooperation is one of the methods by which this will be secured, This meeting calls upon all Committees of the Society to press the Government by all means at their dispodal to recognise the essential difference between Cooperation and Capitalism by exempting the Movenent from the Selective Employment Tax and restoring to it the capital investment allowances, thereby acknowledging the essential social role of the Cooperative Movement",
Now only a few days away, the Vietnam Solidgitby Conference shows every sign of being well-attended and bringing together a wide range of people. Delegates will be coming from as far afield as Edinburgh and Lancaster in the north,and. Exeter and Bristol in the West. Each post brings many applications for credentials from a variety of organisations. Among those received in the last few days are from Edinburgh ASLEF y Corby YCND(which pledges full support for the campaign) y Woki Constituency Labour Partyy Haringay Council for Peace in Vietnam st!Mary's (Twickenham)