Govt scrutinises labour laws

Press, 27 April 1983, Page 14

Govt scrutinises labour laws

From

BRIAR WHITEHEAD,

in Wellington

The Government might introduce industrial relations legislation later this year that will stiffen penalties for breaches of agreements between employers and unions.

Moves to do away with compulsory unionism or introduce compulsory secret ballots do not seem likely at present.

The member of Parliament for Whangarei, Mr John Banks, who is the leading advocate of a firmer stence with the unions in the Government caucus, says a body of support is building in the caucus in favour of youth rates of pay, secret ballots before industrial action, voluntary unionism, and wage-fixing tied to productivity.

The Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, has already said he will introduce — with reluctance — legislation on youth rates of pay, and that he is looking closely at increased penalties for breaches of agreements.

The Government will introduce changes to the Commerce Act this year and will consider in the context of that act raising penalties for strikes or lock-outs over non-industrial matters, and for failure to resume work in essential industries after an Arbitration Court order. Stiffer penalties under the Industrial Relations Act would be part of the parcel.

Beyond that, any initiatives from the National Party caucus will almost certainly founder. The Government is following the line of a British Government Green Paper, “Democracy in the Trade Unions,” presented in January this year. It says that secret strike ballots are not the answer, for the following reasons:

© State imposed strike ballots result in overwhelming support for industrial action, because they become a test of trade union solidarity. Mr Bolger says that voluntary secret ballots held at the Dannevirk Orihgi freezing works returned votes 80 per cent to 90 per cent in favour of strike action. 9 “Triggered” ballots, which would allow the rank and file to test an executive decision to call a strike or other industrial action, cause procedural problems. How many unionists would be needed to trigger the ballot? Who would vote; the total membership of the .union or all union members at a particular establishment? Unions might begin to manipulate the ballot, calling for them on issues that strengthened their case. There might be less focus on agreement and more on setting the stage for the final ballot. Mr Bolger says that strikes in

New Zealand tend to be short compared with other countries, and that the procedure for voting could extend them for days. All workers at shift-working plants would have to be rounded up for a vote, and before any return to work they would have to be rounded up again. Nor is the Minister in favour of voluntary unionism for the conventional reason of breaking the “excessive” power of unions. The only reason he sees for abolishing compulsory unionism is his belief that the last 50 years of guaranteed membership and funds from levies have made the movement sluggish and inflexible.

“They are not as responsive to their membership as they might otherwise be; they have not moved sufficiently with the times,” he said.

“But it is a mistake to say that the Government is close to doing away with compulsory unionism.” He says that secret ballots and voluntary unionism are the “emotional pot-boilers” that do not produce stable industrial relations. John Banks says that he is doing his homework, and after the recess will have his case ready. He thinks he will have the numbers then to get his package through, and it is not all hard-line.

“The employer must come down out of his ivory tower, get onto the

shop floor and work hand-in-hand with the problems,” he says. He says that the Government should now act on youth rates of pay and that there is no substance to claims that older workers would be dismissed and replaced by young people on lower rates. “Employers are not doing that where there are already youth rates,” he says. Mr Banks calculates that 84 awards and agreements have no youth pay rates, and that more than half of those on the unemployment benefit are aged 16 to 25 years. “I’m not talking about putting them on a bread-line wage, but giving them an adequate wage which still gives the employers something spare to put them through a training course,” Mr Banks said.

After youth rates, the next logical choice in industrial relations reform is a look at penalties for breach of contracts, Mr Bolger says. “There is no point in making an industrial agreement today if it is broken tomorrow. A major objective in any new approach has to be to reinforce the sanctity of agreements.” All awards contained clauses prohibiting any stoppages arising from any dispute over the interpretation, application, or operation of an award while that award was in force, but breaches were everyday occurrences, he said.

In the Industrial Relations Act, penalties are now a maximum of $5OO for every union, association, or employer who commits any breach of an award or collective agreement, and $5O for any worker committing a breach. Any union officer or person acting on behalf of an employer who aids and abets in this is liable to a maximum penalty of $lOO. In the Commerce Act penalties are already severe. Strikes or lockouts over non-industrial matters cost individuals $l5O, officers of the union or persons acting for the employer $7OO each, and unions or employers $l5OO each. Failures to return to work on the order of the Arbitration Court cost the same amounts.

Mr Bolger says that the fines in the Industrial Relations Act are “clearly not high enough to act as a deterrent.”

Mr Banks says that the Government is in for some “hard-hat, trench warfare” with the unions, particularly if the wage freeze is extended. This is the climate that shapes acceptance of the kind of package he will take to the caucus later this year, he says.

The Minister of Labour is less sure. It will take “special circumstances” to make the Government introduce secret ballots or abolish the unqualified preference clause, he says?