PAY SITUATION ‘SMOULDERING’

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31831, 8 November 1968, Page 20

PAY SITUATION ‘SMOULDERING’

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Nov. 7.

The 5 per cent general wage order had already been swallowed up in rising costs, and the workers were no further forward than they were before, Mr P. M. Butler, the secretary of the New Zealand Federation of Labourers, said at the federation’s annual conference today.

“It is a smouldering situation and threatens to break into conflagration < at any time,” he told delegates. The workers were no longer in a mood to quietly accept unfair distribution of the

wealth helped to produce, he said.

“The present quiescent position should not be accepted by the powers that be as characteristic of the workers of New Zealand,” Mr Butler said.

Every effort should be made to establish a formula whereby industry would proceed unimpeded, and the workers be guaranteed a fair share of production to give them a fair standard of living. “The whole system of wage fixing in New Zealand is outdated," he said. "To effect a better system, and bring about understanding between all concerned, should be the duty of the Government. “To hold back-room meetings from which the interested parties are excluded is entirely wrong.” The federation’s president (Mr H. Kay) said a survey was essential to find what it cost to provide a man, wife and two children with a reasonable standard of living. This amount should become the basic rate, below which an award should not go. Margins for skill could then be added.