INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS “Creative approach” pleaded for

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32706, 8 September 1971, Page 18

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS “Creative approach” pleaded for

(New Zealand Preu Association)

WELLINGTON, September 7.

A plea for a “creative approach” to New Zealand’s industrial problems was made by Professor G. Fogelberg when he gave the Sir Sydney Holland memorial lecture in Wellington this evening. Professor Fogelberg, who is professor of business administration at Victoria University, said industrial relations were suffering from “a dose of psychedelia.”

“Psychedelia is new, and for this reason solutions are not easy to find,” he said. When negotiating parties could not find an answer they often opted out and left the problem on the desk of the Minister of Labour.

But if they did some creative thinking, they would get creative solutions. Professor Fogelberg said there had been a marked decline in the harmony of New Zealand’s industrial relation* in the last 12 months. But he did not believe inflation could be blamed solely for this.

“CLAIMS NOT JUSTIFIED” Income was an important item for every person, but some of the large claims for increased wages in recent months could not be justified on logical economic grounds

alone. They were a reflection for a desire for greater recognition, appreciation, and status—the desire for more of “the good life.” Professor Fogelberg said New Zealand was at the crossroads in its industrial relations. If present trends continued, there would be further adverse effects upon the economy.

“If we are going to snap out of the psychedelic state which clouds our industrial relations, we will have to realise that people are looking for a different way of life,” he said. “Both employers and unions will have to realise that the employee of the 1970 s wants recognition, an environment in which he can use and develop his skills fully.” KEY TO ACHIEVEMENT Professor Fogelberg said solutions had to be found which satisfied employers’ needs and maintained, and preferably increased, pro-

ductivity. The key to the achievement of both objects was job enrichment and greater employee participation.

Union officials had the job of understanding their members’ needs. “It has been said that our union officials are tired old men and that there is a generation gap between them and their members,” Professor Fogelberg said. “Employers and union officials must take full cognisance of the psychedelic symptoms and realise that industrial negotiations can no longer be confined to economic terms. “The social terms must also be considered. Both parties must realise that negotiating is a social process,” he said. MR NEARY’S VIEW Industrial relations in New Zealand were improving, the secretary of the New Zealand Electrical Workers’ Union (Mr A. J. Neary) said in Wellington today. It would not be long before “things settled down," he told the Petone Rotary Club. “But we won’t succeed in achieving this goal unless some fresh ideas are introduced,” he said. The Arbitration Court should be given extended powers to bring about industrial reforms, Mr Neary said. The wage order system should be automatic and not the result of long-winded hearings in the Arbitration Court, he said.

A statutory body should be set up to give first-hand advice to disputing employers and employees.