TRADE UNION ISSUES Combined action foreshadowed

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32703, 4 September 1971, Page 3

TRADE UNION ISSUES Combined action foreshadowed

(New Zealand Press Association; MELBOURNE, September 3. Combined action on common causes by workers on both sides of the Tasman Sea is foreshadowed by a unity motion approved by the Australian Council of Trade Unions yesterday.

The congress of the power-11 ful A.C.T.U. voted unani-]' mously to seek close co- 1 operation with the New Zealand Federation of Labour on common issues. The vote followed an address to the congress by Mr T. E. Skinner, the F.O.L. president. Mr Skinner pointed out that the trans-Tasman Governments co-operated on common issues, and there was nothing to stop the tradeunion movement from doing the same. Mr Skinner said that the entry of Britain into the Common Market would push Australia and New Zealand closer together in trade. The executive of the A.C.T.U. yesterday proposed to the congress that the movement should seek closer collaboration with New Zealand’s trade-union movement. The A.C.T.U. president (Mr R. Hawke) said that the executive had discussed Mr

I Skinner’s address fully before , (framing the motion. It was ■ supported unanimously. Details of the collaboration, however, have not yet been announced. The A.C.T.U., under Mr Hawke, has moved strongly away from the narrow, traditional views of the Labour movement. As well as fighting for industrial rights in wages and conditions, Mr Hawke has thrown his weight behind campaigns for social aims, and is moving into the service field of retailing, ’ insurance, and housing. ' Price rises—Since its announcement last week, the Price Tribunal has received , eight applications under the ; price justification scheme and ‘ has approved two. In its ;weekly, ' statement, the ’ Tribunal said that the com- ' modifies for which approval ;to increase prices had been given were one brand of ice ■ cream and one brand of ' canned fruit.—(P.A.)