Productivity boost ‘must equal pay rises’

Press, 30 August 1980, Page 27

Productivity boost ‘must equal pay rises’

PA Wellington The current wage talks reveal a continuing confusion between money wages and real wages, according to the president of the Retailers’ Federation (Mr D. G. Turney). “What matters is not how many dollars there are in a pay packet but what those dollars will buy, and the same goes for any other income,” he said. It was becoming increasingly apparent that many trade unions still did not appreciate that wage rises without corresponding increases in output only served to fuel inflation and add to’ unemployment, rent wage round.

“In recent years most increases in productivity have resulted from labour shedding. What we need is productivity growth through economic expansion and job creation. In such circumstances wage rises can result in a genuine increase in living standards. Anything else leads to an erosion of purchasing power and an inevitable backward slide,” Mr Tumey said. A combined meeting of presidents and chief executives of the Manufacturers Federation, Federated Farmers, the Retailers’ Federation, the Chambers of Commerce and the Employers’ Federation had recently reviewed aspects of the cur-