Trade unions accused of ‘selective morality’

Press, 18 March 1982, Page 2

Trade unions accused of ‘selective morality’

PA Wellington Trade unionists were showing "selective morality” in threatening a trade ban against France over nuclear testing in the Pacific, said the Minister of Labour (Mr Bolger) yesterday. “You might care to ask Mr Knox (President of the Federation of Labour) or the trade unions, why it is that they are not suggesting a trade ban with Russia or some other countries that have acted irresponsibly in the international arena,” Mr. Bolger told journalists.

He was commenting on Tuesday’s reports that Pacific countries’ trade unions will consider imposing a trade ban, after recent discussions at the annual meeting of the Australian-New Zealand Trade Union Co-

ordinating Council in Melbourne. Mr Knox attended the conference and said on Tuesday evening that the unions were also warning the Japanese about dumping nuclear waste in the Pacific and the Americans against looking for a Pacific Island for nuclear tests.

Mr Bolger said he wondered about the “selective morality” of the unions. “We are going to have a trade ban against France because we don't like it, but I would have presumed that most of the trade union movement would be in opposition to what is happening in Poland, and what happened in Afghanistan ... there has been no suggestion from the trade unions that we should have a trade bart .. with Russia.”

Mr Bolger made it clear,

however, that-he thought no trade ban against France would eventuate.

He said he relied on “the good sense of the trade union movement to determine, when they reflect on the matter, that it is not in the interests of their members to pursue such a course.” The Government really did not expect that the trade ban would be imposed, he said.

The Governments of New Zealand and the Pacific Islands had “long expressed their concern to France about its policy of testing in the Pacific. So there is no disagreement between us and the trade unions in that area."

“Where we part company very directly with the trade unions is the suggestion that we should try to .persuade the French- by imposing a trade ban.” * ’■

A trade ban with Chile had been quite ineffective in changing Chilean policies, Mr Bolger said, but it was "very effective ' in affecting New Zealand.”:. ■

“We. would have a much worse situation if we w.ere to introduce a trade ban on France. Our trade with France is important to New Zealand. I suspect that French trade to New Zealand is of much less importance to them."

Such a ban would have a dramatic' effect on the jobs and opportunities of New Zealanders, Mr Bolger said. As a trading nation, New Zealand had to trade. “There are a lot of countries internationally that we do not;- agree with but we cannot sit down here and disagree with everybody and not trade.”