Co-operation With Unions Urged

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31809, 14 October 1968, Page 10

Co-operation With Unions Urged

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Oct. 11. Employers should develop closer relations with trade unions so both could work more closely together to achieve increased production, said the Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) in Auckland today. It was essential that management should tell unions much more about company problems than was usually done now. Speaking at a National Party luncheon, he said: “I do not believe in union participation in management in the narrow sense of the term but I do believe that unions should be informed as far as possible of the aims and objects of management. “I also believe that good management will invite union criticism and take that criticism seriously. "This might sometimes involve changes, on the recommendation of the union, even where management is not too sure that it’s right, if only to show the union and its members that they are respected.” In many case, said Mr Shand, employers treated staff with a courtesy and consideration which they would not extend to the unions which represented the staff. They exhibited toward their employees a kind of paternalism. They were prepared to make generous payments to staff who became redundant but were not prepared to enter into any agreement with unions to make provision in awards for any such payments. Employers were prepared

to review any dismissal and often to give an employee the benefit of the doubt or even reinstate him when he had committed an offence justifying dismissal. But they were not prepared to invoke union co-operation in that kind of activity. Great Possibilities There was a tremendous posibility of improvement in productivity from the more efficient use of labour resources, Mr Shand added. “I do not believe we are ready yet in New Zealand for the more sophisticated kind of productivity bargaining which should be our goal,** he said. “Neither employers nor unions have developed the techniques of evaluation which are necessary to its success. "But a great deal can be achieved by the elimination of restrictive practices and their waste of labour resources, whether they derive from union pressure or from management inefficiency.” An entirely new relationship between union and management was needed, said Mr Shand. They should not meet merely to discuss union claims for greater rewards or better conditions as was often the case today. They should instead meet to discuss ways of achieving greater productivity in exchange for reasonable increases in labour rewards. Long Time

“If labour relations in New Zealand are to continue on the basis of ‘across the board’ confrontation it is likely to be a long time before we achieve further substantial increases in our standard of living. “If that is to be the approach, relationships between management and workers are likely to deteriorate and the deterioration will, in itself,

reduce productivity,” Mr Shand said. “I am convinced that the present economic emergency provides a unique opportunity for a new co-operation between labour and management

r “This kind of co-operation will not be achieved by : appeals for loyalty on the r part of management nor by - threats of the dire conse- - quences of failure to co-oper- - ate. The circumstances provide an adequate threat"