Wage-fixing commission of inquiry suggested

Press, 7 September 1982, Page 3

Wage-fixing commission of inquiry suggested

PA Auckland The executive director of the Employers’ Federation, Mr J. W. Rowe, has suggested that a commission of inquiry be set up to find better ways of wage fixing. Speaking at a function in Auckland, he said: “Something like an inquiry has got to be put in place before Christmas.” Mr Rowe said that the “breathing space” offered by the wage freeze should be used to set in train a •thorough review of wagefixing and industrial relations. He warned of disastrous consequences for the economy if there was no significant reform of the wagefixing system. Mr Rowe said that since the breakdown of the general wage orders and Arbitration Court methods of determining wages in the mid-19605, wages had consistently outstripped productivity. “Inflation and unemployment are the inevitable consequences of this and these have become steadily worse. For a number of reasons New Zealand can no longer acquiesce in wage-cost-price inflation of the sort we have experienced in the last 15 years,” he said.