New concept in industrial relations

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32406, 19 September 1970, Page 1

New concept in industrial relations

A four-day seminar at the Crown Crystal glassworks was described as a new concept in industrial relations, and a most important one at that, by the final speaker—the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk).

The 300-member union paid two-thirds of the $lOOO required for speakers’ fees, fares and accommodation. The company paid the other third, and the wages of the 27 employees who elected to attend.

The seminar was organised by the president of the Canterbury Glassworkers' Union (Mr S. G. Isherwood), with the full co-operation and support of the works manager (Mr I. G. Lyons). The lectures for three of the four days were planned by the Canterbury Univerisity Department of Extension

Studies, and the speakers included senior lecturers in law, economics and engineering, as well as senior management representatives. Mr Kirk said the utmost co-operation was needed between labour and management if the present industrial situation was to improve, and this depended on everyone understanding what it was all about WORST YET

New Zealand’s present industrial relations were the worst the country had known, said Mr Kirk. Even industries which had never had serious discord now found themselves embroiled in militant action. During the last 12 months there had been 169 industrial disputes, 138 of them based on wage : issues.

I Faced with a lack of advance in living standards, and indeed, with difficulty in ’maintaining their standards, I the workers were taking

action to get more money—but not from increasing wealth but from transferring shares of the wealth temporarily from one sector to another, Mr Kirk said. REAL WORTH

A nation’s wealth was measured in money value, but the real value was the amount of goods and services available, he said. For all the people to take an economic step forward, the real wealth had to be increased in total volume. Just to increase the monetary value, robbed workers of the purchasing power of their wages and savings and generated discord in industry and society, Mr Kirk said.

Most of the present industrial disputes were therefore due to the economic climate “created by a third party,” and the situation could only be cured by increasing the real wealth and seeing that it was properly shared. Working harder, however.

was not the answer, said Mr Kirk. Work nowadays was generally limited to the speed of machines, and what was needed was more skill in operating them, higher training and better technology. One training field which had been almost completely neglected was training for management, Mr Kirk said. In the past, men had spent five years as apprentices, learning how to shape metal, and after becoming good tradesmen had become foremen and managers. They had five years training in how to handle metal, and none in how to handle men SATISFACTION

With increasing automation making work more monotonous, industrial relations had to be thought through to see how individuals could be made to feel satisfied and significant, not just cogs in the machinery, Mr Kirk said. Operators in a plant were only employed because they were useful and necessary, he

said. But they must be made to feel useful and necessary. There were more than 700 unions in New Zealand, Mr Kirk said. This meant that many were small, and lacked the money for the research and bargaining skills needed to match the employers.

Some industrial stoppages occurred because union leaders did not know how to bargain. Because of this, strike action was used as the initial weapon instead of being held in reserve as the ultimate weapon. NOW MANAGERS

A development which had weakened the industrial movement had been the attraction of some of its leaders into management positions, Mr Kirk said. To emphasise this point, one of the lectures at the Crown Crystal seminar was given by Mr Bruce Manson, industrial relations manager for Fletcher Industries and former president of the Southland Freezing Workers’ Union.