Jobless could look to unions

Press, 13 November 1981, Page 12

Jobless could look to unions

PA Wellington The trade union movement must accept part of the blame for New Zealand’s unemployment levels, says the director of the Employers’ Federation, Mr J. W. Rowe. “In spite of union leaders’ denials, many of the unemployed can fairly blame the union movement for their plight,” Mr Rowe told the Federation’s annual meeting in Wellington. “Excessive demands, restrictive work practices, opposition to flexible working patterns and so on have shown the unions to give little but to cost a lot in terms of employment opportunities.”

Mr Rowe said wages had moved ahead 60 per cent in the last three years while prices had moved 50 per cent. “Those people in jobs have therefore done well but at the cost of those now unemployed, farmers, the selfemployed, and those on fixed incomes.” Demands for high wage settlements were unrealistic. Labour was made excessively expensive, and employers were forced to consider all the costs of taking on another worker against what that worker would contribute. ■ “Faced with such a choice, employers are often forced to rely on the staff they

already have and know. And so more workers are blocked out of jobs,” Mr Rowe said. “The union cry for a 35hour working week for 40 hours pay, or variants thereof, clearly shows the union movement’s lack of concern for unemployment. The cost of labour is high enough without a part of it being for compulsory leisure. “It would be a disaster for New Zealand.” Mr Rowe said the present wage-fixing system needed urgent review. Referring to the Arbitration Court’s award of a 5 per cent general wage order earlier this year, Mr Rowe said he was of the view that no order was justified.