Labour critical of works’ closing

Press, 19 November 1981, Page 13

Labour critical of works’ closing

PA Wellington The closing of Gear Meat’s works would never have happened under a Labour government, said Labour’s Shadow Minister of Employment, Mr T. K. Burke. The Government had constantly failed to introduce redundancy* legislation, he said. He criticised the Minister of Labour (Mr Bolger) for intervening in industrial relations and yet at Gear refusing to get the parties together. “A Labour government would require disclosure of information in the bargaining process, so that a union can properly assess a company’s economic prospects and viability, and negotiate accordingly. At Gear no-one has seen the books. Only the company knows the ‘ true situation. “In the event of a proposed company shutdown Labour would require, the company to give three months notice of redundancy. During that three months all affected parties — employer, unions, g Labour Department. Hous-

ing Corporation, Development Finance Corporation — would meet to try to minimise the effects of job loss. "Worker retraining, redeployment, or relocation should be planned. Where redundancies are unavoidable minimum levels of redundancy pay would be paid out of an employment protection fund for which all employers would be levied,” Mr Burke said.