Mr Bolger confirmed to chair I.L.O. meeting

Press, 3 February 1983, Page 10

Mr Bolger confirmed to chair I.L.O. meeting

NZPA staff correspondent Davos. Switzerland

The Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, will • chair the International Labour Organisation's annual conference in Geneva in June. The Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, confirmed this after talking to the I.LO.'s director-general. Mr Francis Blanchard. They have both been attending the European Management Forum meeting in Switzerland.

Mr Bolger was nominated to chair the LL.O. annual conference at the recent Asian regional meeting of the organisation in Tokyo, but this was subject to the New Zealand Government's agreement.

Mr Blanchard approached Mr Muldoon during the meeting in Davos and the Prime Minister said the Government was happy for Mr

Bolger to chair the Geneva meeting, which will last nearly a month. It is the Asia region's turn to nominate the chairman for the annual meeting. Mr Bolger will face a difficult job presiding over what observers describe as a highly political conference attended by more than 1000 government, union, and employers' representatives. Contentious items on this year's agenda will include the state of the union movement in Poland and apartheid in South Africa. Mr Bolger, apart from presiding over the plenary sessions, will also be expected to be active behind the scenes trying to get agreement between the different interests at the meeting. - As Minister of Labour he has led New Zealand delegations to recent LL.O. confer-

ences in Geneva. The delegations have included the Federation of Labour president, Mr W. J. Knox, and employers' and union representatives. Mr Bolger and Mr Knox have used the opportunity to get together on “neutral" territory to discuss New’ Zealand industrial issues in a more relaxed atmosphere than they sometimes get in Wellington. This did not prevent Mr Knox from delivering an angry blast against the Government over the Springbok tour at the conference two years ago. His speech to a packed conference hall came immediately after delegates had been addressed by the Polish Solidarity leader, Mr Lech Walesa. Pope John Paul delivered the keynote speech at last year's meeting.