‘No future for soft deals’

Press, 29 October 1981, Page 2

‘No future for soft deals’

PA Wellington Manufacturers were yesterday told bluntly by the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) that New Zealand could not afford “soft” wage deals.

Addressing the Manufacturers' Federation convention. in Wellington, Mr Muldoon said, “There is no future fob any industry in this country if it gives way on soft wage settlements." ’ .In a reference .to the Borthwick-C.W.S. Longburn freezing works deal which was vetoed last week by the Government, he said there was no future either for a four-day week or a 35-hour week.

“Certainly the employees should share, along with the shareholder and the consumer, in the result of advanced technology, and the New Zealand employer has never been unreasonable in that respect," Mr Muldoon said.

“Unfortunately, the trade union movement in this country has held on to the old idea of the class war long after it has. in fact, receded

into history, and the only reason for this is that in the absence of some such mythical struggle the need for the existence of the trade union is less obvious.” he said.

Both the economy and employment were now starting to pick up, Mr Muldoon said.

“It is still essential, however. that no soft deals are made on redundancy as it will clearly continue at least in the building and construction industry. “Youth rates are another issue which) in their present form, are preventing employers from taking on young people to train them for a career and the effect of both these issues is to cause-em.-ployers to work overtime with existing staff rather than take on new employees until such time as the expansion of the economy is very clear.”

Mr Muldoon said it was “essential” that a wage-tax trade-off be agreed with the unions as part of the big tax review the National Party had promised for next year if it were re-elected.

If necessary, the Government was prepared to leg-

islate for it. Mr Muldoon said. “The final point I come back to is'this: the economy , needs external funds to survive. In the distant past, we got them from our grassland agriculture. In the last two decades we have brought in new export sectors' with the growth of manufactured exports, forestry, fishing, tourism, and more recently horticulture. “Another new sector is

now being developed, the energy-based sector. This will bring in about the same amount of external funds as we are getting from the total manufacturing sector or from wool at present.

“Its benefits, however, will flow through the whole economy and every business which needs external funds to buy some of its essentials, whether they be plant, raw materials, or components, will get a lift from this new export sector. “With the start of the construction phase of these new major projects we are poised on the edge of a big turn-round in this economy,” Mr Muldoon said.