Wage offer upsets P.M.

Press, 23 June 1978, Page 1

Wage offer upsets P.M.

PA Wellington The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) is not happy about the 11.5 per cent pay increase tp drivers. The figure was agreed to yesterday in talks between the Road Transport Association and the Federation of Labour, which stepped into the dispute at the request of the drivers, who had sought rises up to 24 per cent. Mr Muldoon described the settlement as a totally unacceptable precedent for the forthcoming wage round. "The public will be looking for an explanation from the parties as to how this increase can be justified,” Mr Muldoon said.

The prospects for lower inflation were better than they had been for years. “But widespread wage increases of this size will undo all the progress we have made,” said Mr Muldoon.

The present free wagebargaining situation depended on employers

and employees behaving responsibly and having regard to the effects of their decisions on the whole country.

"It remains to be shown that this has occurred in the drivers' case,” Mr Muldoon said. The employers attached several conditions to their offer during the informal talks yesterday. Negotia* tions on the conditions continued for two hours without a final settlement, but formal conciliation will resume on Monday with the 11.5 per cent offer still open. The offer is higher than many observers expected and in spite of Mr Muldoon’s comments it is sure to raise trade-union hopes for high settlements in the coming wages round. If the Offer is accepted, it will add about $l2 to most drivers’ basic gross pay. Drivers of trucks in the under-two-tonne class will receive $113.95, while those in the 10 to 14 tonne group will get $118.42.