‘Extreme disappointment’ about F.O.L.’s planned action

Press, 8 May 1980, Page 3

‘Extreme disappointment’ about F.O.L.’s planned action

PA Auckland The Minister of Labour ' (Mr Bolger) yesterday expressed “very extreme disappointment” about the Federation of Labour’s plan for industrial action in support of a cost-of-liv-ing wage increase. The F.O.L. plan was revealed at the federation’s conference in Wellington on Tuesday. Speaking in Auckland, . Mr Bolger said that such a campaign of industrial action would in no way

convince the Government that an increase was justified, if the figures did not support this. The Government, he said, had given the federation the option of either waiting for figures from the June consumers price index or taking the issue to an independent tribunal. “Nothing could be fairer than an independent tribunal to look at the case for a wage increase,” Mr Bolger said. “Nothing could be more absurd than a fortnight of industrial mayhem to

bludgeon something out of the Government,” he said Possibly the F.O.L. was itself not convinced by the strength of its figures, Mr Bolger said, as it would not submit them to independent scrutiny. As yet, it was not possible to say just how the Government would react to the campaign of stoppages, Mr Bolger said. Any industrial protest action by trade unions for an early cost-of-living wage adjustment would be short-sighted folly, said Mr J. W. Rowe, executive

director of the Employers’ Federation. “Most people in this country are upset about the continuing escalation of prices but a fortnight of strikes is not a constructive way of grappling with the problems of inflation,” he said. “Industrial action of the sort agreed on by the F.O.L. conference will hurt wage and salary earners as well as people on fixed ; incomes,” said Mr Rowe. > “It is a case of cutting off your nose to spite your s face.”