‘Workers produce less’

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 9

‘Workers produce less’

NZPA-Reuter London People in the industrial nations believe they work less hard and are less loyal to their employers than 10 years ago, according to an international study issued in London. A survey by the Americanbased Louis Harris group showed that most working people in the United States, Australia, Britain, West Germany. and Japan also thought that in most cases workmanship was w-orse than a decade ago. But the survey, based on 4700 interviews in the five countries, showed that a majority of workers, employers, and trades union leaders in Britain, Australia and the United States-agreed that poor productivity was a big problem which damaged exports and threatened 'jobs. Both American and British

workers and employers were prepared in general to accept sacrifices to achieve greater economic growth, but few workers would accept any specific loss of earnings or social security benefits or greater environmental pollution. In Japan, where a press uproar developed in 1978 over a European Common Market report which described it as a "nation of workaholics living in rabbit hutches.” there was little support for any sacrifices in living standards. Two-thirds of British trade-union leaders blamed the country's low productivity on a failure to invest in new equipment, while employes were "divided — more than one-third of employers blamed union opposition to change. Employees in all five

countries said they thought trade-union attitudes were more damaging to business efficiency than 10 years ago. American employers felt that the biggest incentive to increased productivity was better equipment, while British and Australian bosses said better union-manage-ment relations were the key. Employers in Japan and West Germany, which have enviable productivity rates, were undecided how best to improve them. The survey showed considerable opposition in the United States to increased Government involvement in the economy. There was little enthusiasm 'among workers and employers in the other countries, too, except in Japan where a bare majority of workers favoured increased Government involvement.