‘Only House can deregister P.S.A.’

Press, 29 March 1982, Page 1

‘Only House can deregister P.S.A.’

PA Wellington Parliament would have to debate any move by the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) to deregister the giant State workers’ union, the Public Service Association. For Mr Muldoon to go ahead with the deregistration threat he made in Wellington on Saturday, members of Parliament would have to vote on a repeal or amendment to a section of the act which recognises the P.S.A. as the State servants' negotiating body. Mr Muldoon confirmed at Parliament Buildings last evening that the legislation would be needed to carry out his threat to deregister if the P.S.A. went on strike in opposition to the Government's cost-cutting measures. Mr Muldoon told Wellington's Ohariu branch of the National Party on Saturday that the State workers' union had threatened the strike action in opposition to his Government's. cost-cutting exercise. He said if the P.S.A. went ahead it would be deregistered as the organisation which negotiates with the Government for the country's State servants.

The president of the P.S.A.. Mr D. H. Thorp, yesterday denied that his organisation had threatened any strike action.

He said the Prime Minister was using the P.S.A. as a scapegoat because he was under pressure to move ahead with big reforms to the taxation system, but was having great difficulty resolving conflicting viewpoints from all sides on the tax issue.

Of Mr Muldoon's deregistration threat, Mr Thorp said: "I don't take too much notice of his mouthings. which is all I consider this to be. The last thing he is going to do is to take such Draconian and counter-produc-tive measures."

In his address, Mr Muldoon said he knew of various P.S.A. groups of workers who would rather form their own unions and negotiate direct with the Government.

Mr Thorp said he knew of no such groups which were dissatisfied with the P.S.A. representation. He did not think Mr Muldoon was “at all serious."

Mr Thorp said the P.S.A. had not yet contemplated any form of opposition to the 3 per cent spending cuts, but

he believed that the cuts, if imposed, could have severe effects on State staffing levels. On Friday the P.S.A. had decided to seek a meeting with the Minister of State Services (Mr Thompson) to discuss the effect of the cuts on State servants. Mr Thorp said Mr Thompson had said in a television interview two weeks ago that there would bt' no staff cuts as a result of the spending cuts. The P.S.A. was not considering any proposal for direct action and could not since it did not yet know the form of these cuts. In his address, Mr Muldoon said he would suggest deregistration to his caucus and the Cabinet if the P.S.A. took strike action. His threat brought loud applause from the National Party members he was addressing. “If my party and Parliament support me— and I believe they do — we are not going to permit this kind of activity for totally spurious reasons.” said Mr Muldoon. Mr Muldoon told a reporter to look in his files when asked last evening who in the P.S.A. had threatened the strike action.