"Not under pressure

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33577, 4 July 1974, Page 16

"Not under pressure

(New Zealand Preet Association)

WELLINGTON, July 3.

The Government is prepared to look at the law on injunctions in the industrial field, but not while under any pressure from unions during a strike or stoppage, the Prime Minister (Mr Kirk) said today.

He called on any unions not now working—especially the seamen—to return to work immediately. Mr Kirk made his comments at a press conference called in his office soon after the release of Mr G. H. Andersen was announced.

Mr Kirk told reporters he was pleased that the dispute had been resolved in accord with the processes of law. The Government had made it clear that the law would be upheld—and it had been upheld.

Now that the occasion for stoppages had been removed, the Government called for an immediate return to work, he said. The stoppages had caused and were continuing to cause disruption and serious inconvenience to the public, and should be called off at once. Answering questions, Mr Kirk said there had been no approach so far from the Seamen’s Union for a review of the law covering injunctions.

It would be open for anyone to make approaches, and some were expected soon, relating to industrial relations. The Government was prepared to listen to any approaches, except those made under pressure with a gun pointed at the Government. “No thought can be given to the matter in any situation where attempts are being made to pressure the Government,” he said. Mr Kirk said some consideration had already been given to the use of injunctions in the industrial field, but these had been stopped as a result of industrial stoppages recently. Asked if he saw the settlement today as a “backing down by the Northern Drivers’ Union," Mr Kirk said he saw it only as a matter that the Court had decided within the framework of the law.

Mr Kirk praised the part played by the Minister of Labour (Mr Watt) in obtaining the settlement.