Wages policy 'vital’

Press, 18 April 1980, Page 4

Wages policy ' vital’

A wages policy is absolutely vital to sustain New Zealand’s industrial productivity, according to Mr I. J. Johnson, president of the Road Transport Association. Mr Johnson, who was 1 in Christchurch last evening to speak to road carriers, said that he welcomed the talks on a wage policy that the Government, the Federation of Labour, and the Employers’ Federation would hold next week. The road transport industry, did not want a repetition of the protracted wage negotiations Of the last two years. The Government’s interference in drivers’ wage negotiations last year had caused a lot of disruption, and lost wages and revenue for both parties, he said. The talks next week were of such vital concern to all New Zealanders that there was no place for personality clashes or prima donna poh-. tics.-Matters to be resolved included reductions in personal income tax, a general wage increase, and wage-re-straint proposals. In the last four years the

parties had “not got to grips with their responsibilities,” Mr Johnson said. The burden for determining primary wage movements had fallen on the assessors to the General Drivers’ Award. This had been “grossly unfair” to assessors on both sides, organisations . in the road transport industry, and individual employers. “The road transport industry is in no mood to continue taking responsibility for matters which clearly rest with the Government, the F.O.L, and the Employers’, Federation," he said. “Surely it is in the national interest for leaders in these organisations to make policy openly and constructively, rather than engineer and manipulate the parties to an individual award.” Mr Johnson said that the 20 per cent increase in roaduser charges, which came into effect on April 1, was affecting the industry. The Government had reduced the sales tax on heavy vehicles by 10 per cent, but this still meant that a 10 per cent in-

crease in carrier charges had had to be passed on to the consumer.

In some areas consumer resistance was setting in, especially the rural sector. In the last 18 months carriers had been forced to increase their rates by 25 per cent to 30 per cent. The industry could do little to combat price increases in fuel and items such as tyres.

The industry was generally dissatisfied with the method of measuring the distances for the road-user tax, Mr Johnson said. The hubodometer had proved “very unreliable.” Proposals had been put to the Government on the method of administering the tax,. and a decision was expected soon. A tax connected with fuel sales, to replace the controversial road-user charges, was also under investigation. Mr Johnson said that, in spite of rising costs, he was optimistic about .the -industry’s future. “The road carrier industry will remain viable if allowed to perform the things that it does well,” i he said.