P.M. Appeals To F.O.L. To Call Off Meetings

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31315, 10 March 1967, Page 1

P.M. Appeals To F.O.L. To Call Off Meetings

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, March 9.

The Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) today made a last-minute appeal to the Federation of Labour to call off its planned one-day stop work meetings in New Zealand’s four main cities next week.

“I am very concerned that the Federation of Labour appears to have lent itself to what is a political, and not an industrial relations, matter,” Mr Holyoake said.

He made these comments in a letter to the F.O.L. president (Mr T. E. Skinner) on Tuesday. The letter was released publicly today.

Commenting that the F.OX.’* stop-work meetings were to be held in protest against the Government’s action to correct a number of adverse factors in the country’s economic situation, Mr Holyoake said: “The political opponents of the Government are, of course, entitled to criticise whatever measures the Government may take—and to do so without the responsibility of indicating the alternatives they would use for the same purpose.” He considered that the F.O.L. was lending itself on a political matter. The Prime Minister said the only effects of the demonstrations would be to inflict major inconvenience on the New Zealand public. ,

He said there would be a loss of production and income in a situation where any such loss was to the disadvantage of both workers and nation. “I have therefore written to you personally in the hope that there may yet be time for the Federation of Labour to reconsider its action in calling stop-work meetings," he said.

The Dominion president of Federated Farmers (Mr P. S. Plummer) said that not only the workers, but farmers, businessmen and professional men were also going to feel the effects of the Government’s measures to correct New Zealand’s serious bal-ance-of-payments situation. Everyone in a democratic country had the right to protest vigorously against any

measures the Government took, but surely stop-work meetings were not the way to go about it, Mr Plummer said. Such meetings could only aggravate the present difficulties. Master Builders’ Plan

Master builders throughout New Zealand have been advised by their national organisation, the New Zealand Master Builders’ Federation, not' to pay their employees for the time they absent themselves from work to attend any stop-work meetings

planned by the Federation of Labour. "Our guidance in this matter,” said the director of the

Master Builders* Federation (Mr W. M. Sommerville), “is contained in the various industrial awards under which we and our employees operf ate. Nowhere is there any provision for wages to be paid - to workers for time spent at > stop-work meetings.”