THE PRESS MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 1976. Strikes and foreign policy

Press, 30 August 1976, Page 14

THE PRESS MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 1976. Strikes and foreign policy

Travellers whose plans were disrupted at the week-end by the activities of maritime unions in Wellington probably view the occasion as a straightforward confrontation between trade unions and the Government. The unions have prevented the inter-island ferries from sailing for several days; the Government has endeavoured to have sailings resumed, but has moved only cautiously towards using the powers available to it. The unionists’ explanation for the stoppage, of course, has been the presence in Wellington Harbour of a nuclear-powered American warship. The annual conference of the Federation of Labour in May decided to give unqualified support to any maritime unions which took direct action against visits by nuclear vessels. The Government has known since then that it would risk industrial action if a nuclear ship came to New Zealand. Senior Ministers appear still to have been surprised by the extent of the action.

Some strikers may claim that their action is based on the need to preserve their own safety in the face of the possibility of a nuclear accident in the harbour Many other New Zealanders, including hundreds of passengers who had hoped to sail on the ferries, obviously do not feel sufficiently alarmed to remain as far away as possible from the Wellington waterfront. If the strikers were to be consistent about their fear of a nuclear accident, they should all have spent the week-end away from Wellington. But no-one involved is prepared to maintain that the stoppage is anything but a political strike. Its object is to demonstrate hostility to the Government’s foreign policy with the intention that the policy should be changed.

Most New Zealanders have shown, in successive General Elections, that they approve of New Zealand’s defence alliance with the United States in the A.N.Z.U.S. Treaty. Many New Zealanders might also approve a policy in which the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean became nuclear-free zones, even if this meant some reduction in the effectiveness of A.N.Z.U.S. So far, none of the world’s nuclear Powers, including India, has shown any interest in establishing such a zone. Without agreement from the nuclear Powers, an unenforceable declaration of such a zone by New Zealand would be an ineffectual gesture.

It is less important now to get the ferries back to sea while the Truxtun remains at Wellington than it is for the unions involved to recognise the implications of their actions. More nuclear vessels are going to use the South Pacific; not all of them will belong to the United States: not all of them will be warships; others may be expected to call at New Zealand ports. Blanket onposition to nuclear propulsion at sea may become a luxury which not even ♦he most backward unionists can afford to indulge in a country which depends on sea-borne trade

Parliament, not Wellington’s maritime unions, makes New Zealand’s foreign policy. That lesson is more important than an attempt to force the strikers back to work on this occasion however tempted the Government may be to remind the strikers of the trouble they are causing. The issue of visits by nuclear-powered ships has far-reaching implications for New Zealand. It needs to be resolved without becoming entangled with disputes about the extent and use of the Government’s powers to restrain industrial action.