Unionists split on how to get immediate wage rise

Press, 23 August 1984, Page 8

Unionists split on how to get immediate wage rise

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington New Zealand’s trade union movement accepts the need for an immediate wage increase for lowerpaid workers but is bitterly divided over how this might best be achieved. Mr Tony Neary, secretary of the Electrical Workers’ Union and the leader of a newly formed alliance of unions outside the Federation of Labour, believes there should be a general wage order, limited in nature, to take effect from October 1. However, the president of the F.0.L., Mr Jim Knox, yesterday dismissed Mr Neary’s position as “simply not practicable.” He said that reinstatement of the right to argue a general wage order before the Arbitration Court would require new legislation or new regulations and that, either way, it would lead to excessive delay. “What is needed is an immediate wage increase which can be integrated with tax relief for lowincome earners,” he said. “This can only be achieved by direct Government consideration in the next few weeks which is the approach the F.O.L. has adopted.” Mr Knox said that ths federation’s national execA tiijf considered the “Near*

proposal to be far from adequate” to the needs of workers and was strongly opposed to it. However, Mr Neary said that Mr Knox was “very much astray” in suggesting that he was pursuing a general wage order in isolation. It was only one part of “a far more substantial package,” he said. Other provisions were the abolition of the wage freeze forthwith, and immediate tax relief for all those on $15,000 and below through making the first $6OOO earned each year tax-free. Mr Neary said that these measures would be sufficient to take New Zealand through to March when the new wage-fixing machinery would be in place allowing unions to negotiate at least the conditions in their awards with employers. Mr Neary also disagreed with Mr Knox’s statement that to regulate or legislate for a general wage order would take time. The Government could do either “overnight,” Mr Neary said. He was critical of the stand taken by the F.O.L. on the issue of wage-relief and its reliance on the Government providing a wage adjustment "The idea that we should do nothing but wait for the Government to give us a hand-out as National did is '(.wrong,” he said. “I do not

believe that should be the role of the trade union movement at ail.” Mr Neary and a delegation from the alliance of non-affiliated unions have twice sought a meeting with the Minister of Labour, Mr Rodger, in the last two weeks and Mr Rodger has twice refused on the ground that he could not enter negotiations with any worker-group on wagefixing except the F.O.L. Mr Neary said yesterday that Mr Rodger had “got it all wrong,” and that he had never intended to negotiate with the Minister on the matter. However, Mr Neary said that he would not be interested in a meeting if he could not discuss wages, as this and how to break out of the freeze were the most important issues facing unions. “There have been no negotiations or increases since 1981 except that miserable $8 and we are now heading towards the end of 1984,” Mr Neary said. “In that time, costs have been increasing steadily and workers are finding it hard to make ends meet” His new group, the Administrative, Technical, Professional, SemiProfessional, and Other Workers’ Union, is white collanfa character and has been by some as an

alternative to the F.O.L. Both organisations resist this interpretation. Mr Neary has conceded, however, that some members of his group are dissatisfied with the F.O.L.’s performance and particularly with its handling of the general wage order issue under the National Government. Support for Mr Neary’s alliance came yesterday from Social Credit’s spokesman on industrial affairs, Mr Chris Leitch. He said that it had the potential to provide the type of leadership the trade union movement needed and that it could embrace many of the new ideas that the

F.O.L. seemed unable or unwilling to consider. “The F.O.L. appears tied to the concepts of unionism which may have been relevant to the 40 years since the Depression but many of which are outdated for the industrial revolution of the 1980 s and 19905,” Mr Leitch said. “This has created growing dissatisfaction in recent years and has obviously been one of the catalysts for the formation of the new organisation.” Mr Leitch also said that he hoped Mr Roger would see fit to include Mr Neary and his colleagues in future discussions on industrial matters.