Federations To Have New Talks

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31730, 13 July 1968, Page 1

Federations To Have New Talks

The New Zealand Employers’ Federation is seeking a meeting with the Federation of Labour, the director of the Employers’ Federation (Mr P. J. Luxford) said last night, according to a Press Association message from Wellington.

Mr Luxford said the timing of the meeting was up to the F.O.L. The agenda would also depend on discussions between the federations.

Speaking in Auckland, the president of the F.O.L. (Mr T. E. Skinner) welcomed the invitation to meet the employers. "The Employer’s Federation must have something to submit to us, or they would not be seeking a meeting,” he said. However, the F.O.L. would not be dictatorial at the meeting, which Mr Skinner thought would be in Wellington on Monday. “We must listen,” he said. “We can’t dictate because terms must be reached by both sides.” One recommendation which the F.O.L. would not accept, he said, was that all striking workers return to normal work so that negotiations could proceed between the two federations. “We would not agree to an immediate return to work unless we knew what we are going back for,” he said. Mr Skinner favoured a blanket wage increase for all employees, rather than separate agreements for individual unions. Direct Action If no agreement was reached the unions would continue their direct action, said Mr Skinner. The meeting with the Employers’ Federation was a sensible approach to seeking an end to the industrial unrest. Although Mr E. P. Salmon, president of the Auckland Employers’ Association is advocating another application to the Arbitration Court, this is not agreeable to Mr Skinner. “It is obviously an impractical proposition for us to have anything more to do with the Court at present,” he said. Mr Salmon said yesterday that the move for the meeting between the F.O.L. and his federation was the outcome of recommendations made on Thursday by his association. He insisted that the federation had not set out terms which it would present at the proposed meeting. Legal Status “It will just be a discussion,” he said. "Personally, I would like to see a return to the Arbitration Court where an agreement between the employers and the workers would be given legal status. Commenting on Mr Skinner’s suggestion that the Employers’ Federation “must have something to submit to us,” Mr Salmon said: “Mr

Skinner is assuming too much.” “The talks will be to discuss a possible solution to the industrial disputes,” said Mr Salmon. The Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) said last night he hoped Monday's meeting be-

tween the F.O.L. and the Employers’ Federation would lead to a solution of the problem “facing us all.” He said that on request he had made the conference room of the Labour Department available for the talks. Asked if he had helped to arrange the meeting, Mr Shand said he had not. “But I was aware an approach was being made and I have been informed the talks will be taking place,” he said.