Mr Knox attacks Govt ‘bias’

Press, 7 May 1980, Page 3

Mr Knox attacks Govt ‘bias’

PA ' ' Wellington Anti-worker bias in Government legislation and actions was more appropriate to Hitler’s and Mussolini’s regimes than it was to a “supposedly democratic country,” -said the president of the Federation of Labour (Mr W. J. Knox) yesterday. Addressing the annual F.O.L. conference in Wellington, Mr Knox said that trade unions in New Zealand now found themselves in the vanguard of the struggle to preserve democratic rights and freedoms. “In the final analysis, the most effective protection for workers is trade union organisation.” he said. The anti-trade unionism of the Government, he said, gave the movement a threefold task for the future. First there was a need tc defend existing rights anc freedoms. Second was the need tc develop the industrial organ-* isation which could bring about a wide understanding of the economic and social strategy needed to achieve ; better way of life for all workers. Third was the translation of that strategy into action. Given the present economic climate, it was not surprising that legislation aimed at curbing the freedom of trade unions and re* ducing controls on big business was to the forefront ol Government policy, Mr Knox said. “The Remuneration Act — it could more appropriately be called the ‘lndirect wage control and minimum living wage pre-

vention act’. — is the perfect instrument the Government can use to erode workers living standards steadily and redistribute income away from working people. “But there it is, and it must be opposed by all means at our disposal,” he said. The act was bad legislation because: — By revoking the General Wage Orders Act it removed the only channel through which wage improvement could be achieved for the low-paid. — It: gave the Executive sweeping powers to regulate wages and conditions of employment, making living standards a whim of the government. . — Use of regulations enabled a wage freeze bv stealth. —The act created a climate of total uncertainty in wage*negotiations and destabilised the entire industrial relations system. The Fishing Industry (Union Coverage) Act had even graver consequences for the trade union movement, Mr Knox said. “The Remuneration Act attacks the basis for the industrial agreements, but the Fishing Industry Act is a direct attack upon the rights of workers to join a trade union of their choice.” Mr Knox said the National Development Act provided another example of the Government’s attitude to any difference of opinion with its own. “Total State power was assumed to ensure that everybody fitted in with the

Government’s concept of the national interest . . . The philosophy behind the legislation was that public participation is some form of hindrance to the process of national development. “In fact, the converse is! true. Development planning' cannot be carried out effec-l tively unless it reflects the! aspirations and collective i wisdoms of those affected.” Nowhere did the act re-! fleet any national development strategy. This vagueness was not unintentional. “It provides the opportunitv to pursue the strategy o'f more for the minority under i the cloak of greater benefisj for all through growth,” Mr Knox said. I He accused the Prime! Minister (Mr Muldoon) of a deliberate policy of maintaining unemployment. Also, in an aside to his opening address, Mr Knox described the trade union movement — “With due respect to the Parliamentarv Labour Party” — as the greatest opposition to the Government. He also spoke out against “a wholesale take-over of the choicest farmland in this country” by foreigners. In another aside, Mr Knox gave warning that the F.O.L. would not allow affiliated workers to work alongside skilled foreign w’orkers brought in for new energy projects unless the affiliated workers were paid the same wages. The trade union movement would demand a voice in all new technology projects, Mr Knox said.