Wage order only one for year, says Mr Bolger

Press, 2 March 1984, Page 3

Wage order only one for year, says Mr Bolger

PA New Plymouth The Government is prepared to meet the Federation of Labour over its demand for a general wage order as long as it understands “that is it for the year,” said the Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, in New Plymouth yesterday. The Government would attend a meeting with the employers and unions called for March 14, said Mr Bolger. “We are prepared to listen to the unions’ case, although it is interesting to note that the F.O.L. rejected the option of a general wage order some weeks ago,” he said. “I presume the F.O.L. understands that a Government condition on a wage

order — a return to free wage bargaining in 1985 and not before — still applies. “We are quite prepared to accept the F.O.L.’s admission that it made a mistake.” Announcing the F.O.L. decision, the president, Mr W. J. Knox, did not indicate the amount of increase wanted. The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, said in New Orleans that he would “certainly be prepared to talk" to the F.O.L. on March 14 about a general wage order. Sir Robert is visiting New Orleans for mardi gras festivites after talks with officials and businessmen in Washington and New York. He told NZPA that the F.O.L. had now apparently

rejected the option of individual negotiations between unions and employers. “They can’t move on that until we have got the longterm basic proposals tidy,” he said. If the F.O.L. had decided it wanted to go back to the original option, which was for “a small general wage order about now,” then obviously the Government would listen to what the F.O.L. said. The Employers’ Federation’s executive director, Mr J. W. Rowe, said yesterday that if the F.O.L. succeeded in its general wage adjustment claim, any increase could not exceed 1 per cent. If any increase was assessed strictly on the figures covering price and wage movements last year,

there could only be 1 per cent in it, said Mr Rowe. That figure, he said, did not take tax adjustments into account. The Opposition’s spokesman on labour, Mr E. E. Isbey, said that the call for a general wage order was understandable. The Government must act swiftly to restore living standards and wage justice, said Mr Isbey. “That prices have shot up since the last wage order of July, 1981, 19.4 per cent while wages have remained frozen is nothing but highway robbery,” he said. “No excuses, no pretext, no apologies can hide this economic reality, and this will become more obvious from today as wage packets shrink bven more.”