‘Ban no threat to jobs’

Press, 17 March 1982, Page 1

‘Ban no threat to jobs’

PA Wellington A trade ban on France over Mururoa nuclear testing would not create a lot of unemployment in New Zealand, said the president of the Federation of Labour. Mr W. J. Knox, yesterday. Mr Knox was speaking on his return from Melbourne, where he attended the annual meeting of the Aus-tralia-New Zealand Trade Union Co-ordinating Council which called for consideration of a wide-ranging trade ban on France. "We are not going to tolerate continuation of these tests in the Pacific," he said. Two meetings of Pacific Trade Union Forum countries will be held to talk about the trade ban on France, he said. He said there would be one

during April in Fiji and another in September. New Zealand's trade with France for the year ended June. 1981. totalled $52 million in imports and just under $95 million in exports. Asked about the effects of this on New Zealand. Mr Knox said: ‘What about the people? What about their rights to live in peace? What about their rights to eat food from the sea? If we allow tests to continue there will be not one more man living on the planet." He said he did not believe such a ban would create a lot of unemployment and denied that thousands of jobs would be threatened. "If we cannot get satisfaction from the French Government then I have made it clear we will continue our strong opposition," he said.

Mr Knox was strongly critical of the French President. Mr Francois Mitterrand. saying it was ironic a Socialist president had been elected in France. Mr Knox said he had been told by the French that Mururoa Atoll was breaking up because of the weight of coral. He described this as "a lot of nonsense.” "Mururoa Atoll is breaking up because of nuclear explosions." he said. Mr Knox said not only were the trade unions warning the French. “What we are saying is ... the Japanese are talking about dumping nuclear waste in the Pacific, the American Government is talking about finding an island for nuclear tests ... we are not going to tolerate it." The French appear to have

missed the first half of their early-year season for exploding nuclear devices at Mururoa. A spokemsan for the D.S.l.R.'s Seismological Observatory in Wellington said yesterday that no nuclear explosion had yet been recorded on the seismograph at Rarotonga. Records of the French underground tests on the atoll since 1975 show that tests occur in three periods of the year, the first from late February to early April. Of the 47 nuclear explosions on the atoll since 1975 when the French began underground testing. 17 have been during this part of the year.

Earlier report, page 2