A return to wage controls?

Press, 11 July 1979, Page 18

A return to wage controls?

Assertions by the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, and the Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, that wage controls might be reintroduced if drivers persisted with industrial action appear to have been principally responsible for the decision by the Drivers’ Federation that it would resume negotiations with employers on Friday, and that further industrial action should be delayed in the meantime.

The prospect of new restraints on wage bargaining is hardly less attractive to employers than it is to the trade unions, but the drivers might well have foreseen the consequences of their actions this week. In the section of the Budget statement devoted to incomes policy Mr Muldoon said: “The right to free bargaining can be preserved only if the parties involved also accept their responsibilities—not just to their own members, but to society as a whole . . . If the negotiating parties wish to avoid the disruption of Government intervention or a return to wage controls, then they should exercise responsibility.” The Drivers’ Federation appeared to ignore that warning in the size of the wage increases it sought from employers, and in the industrial action it began yesterday. In the event, it was the decision of Canterbury drivers to extend their strike beyond the two days decided by the Drivers’ Federation which led Mr Bolger and the Prime Minister to remind drivers that wage controls or restrictions were being considered.

The community has only a temporary respite from the threat of further action by the drivers, action which is

especially crippling because it comes in the wake of prolonged industrial troubles on the railways. Drivers in the North Island will probably be back at work tomorrow, having completed their strike as planned. Canterbury drivers, and perhaps some others, may not be back on the road until Friday. Further action is likely unless some readiness to compromise —on both sides — emerges from talks between the federation and the employers on Friday.

The rigidity of wage claims, and of offers from some employers, has become a most disturbing feature of industrial negotiations. Claims are put forward, not as a basis for negotiation, but as rigid positions. When these are not accepted the first resort is commonly to strike. The result is a tougher attitude on the part of the employers, too, and a readiness by the Government to threaten — perhaps even to impose — its own solution to disputes which should be matters between unionists and their employers.

The size of the wage increase achieved by the drivers is regarded by many other unions as an indication of the level of wage increases they can hope to achieve. That makes the drivers’ award negotiations specially important; but the strike, the prospect of further action if negotiations break down again, and the speed with which the Government proposed to restrain wage increases and industrial bargaining by law, make the negotiations important to the whole country. There is a need now for cool heads among the Drivers’ Federation and the employers, and perhaps in the Government, too.