‘Survival depends on technology’

Press, 27 September 1982, Page 6

‘Survival depends on technology’

PA Wairakei Resistance to new technology by management and unions could cause whole industries to collapse, said the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Shearer.

“We cannot allow intransigent union leaders and fearful company managers to cripple New Zealand’s export competitiveness and put at risk the jobs of thousands of Kiwi workers, school-leavers, and ultimately the future of all of us,” he told the annual conference of the Electronics Manufacturers' Federation.

“The key fact to be grasped is that New Zealand cannot afford not to invest in new "technology — our economic and social survival may depend on it.”

Trade unions feared that big job losses would result from the introduction of new technology into industries, Dr Shearer said.

“The hard facts are that if New Zealand manufacturers are to compete internationally, their production methods, the design and quality of their products, and their management and information systems must be as efficient as those of their competitors." The most productive industries of the future would be those based on new technology, Dr Shearer said, and only they would be likely to survive,

"Resistance to new technology by. both management and unions may cause firms or whole industries to collapse, simply because obsolescent products and production methods have forced them out of the race for markets,”- Dr Shearer said.

American research had shown that the introduction of new technology did not mean long-term job losses.

A United States Department of Commercse report put the matter clearly, he said. “In spite of temporary problems of labour displacement, it would appear that technologically progressive industries create more jobs, on net balance, than backward industries which are more vulnerable to dynamic change.” In New Zealand, new technology was introduced into banking in the late 1960 s and early 1970 s when the workforce totalled about 10,000, Dr Shearer said. Today, a decade or so later, banking employed more than 16,000 people. Last year, the electronics industry employed 5000 people and produced goods worth a totab.of $lBO million. At present growth’ rates it would be employing 8000 by 1985 and producing goods worth $3OO million, Dr Shearer said.