One-union idea ‘of age’

Press, 4 October 1984, Page 15

One-union idea ‘of age’

PA Rotorua The concept of a single organisation to replace the Federation of Labour and the Combined State Unions may have come of age, says the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Tapsell. Addressing the New Zealand Engineering Industry Conference in Rotorua, Mr Tapsell said there was considerable support for the establishment of a New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. "It is generally agreed that the present union structure in New Zealand is too fragmented and that too I many unions are under resourced," he said. A consequence of the fragmented structure was that unions spent too much

on running costs. The Government proposed extensive amalgamations and was prepared to use public moneys to achieve its aim. “Amalgamated unions will be better staffed and better resourced and therefore better able to increase their capacity for service delivery to members in their workplace,” Mr Tapsell said. Better services would include legal advice, trade union education, holiday homes, occupational health, and safety information. The Government wanted to promote union participation in areas of policy implementation, Mr Tapsell said. The question of union amalgamation would come

within the area of the proposed Green Paper on industrial relations. The Green Paper would also consider the role of the Arbitration Court

Mr Tapsell said that the Minister of Labour had indicated that he would prefer the body to be known as the Industrial Commission and be given more flexibility in dealing with dispute situations.

“We should avoid such legislative measures which seek to control the symptoms of industrial disagreements. The approach should be to provide for measures that will facilitate the resolution of matters in dispute by getting to the root causes and seeking the amicable agreement of disputes,” Mr Tapsell said.

It could be argued that the existence of the remedy of injunction in a civil court was inconsistent with the system of conciliation and arbitration of industrial disputes. While the parties would have different views on the question, Mr Tapsell said that a practical com- > Sromise would be to provide ‘ lat no action would be i taken against unions or unionists unless the Industrial Commission gave a - certificate that the processes of conciliation and arbitration had been exhausted.

Any penal provisions that were retained in the revised legislation introduced by the new Government would be . subject to the jurisdiction of the Industrial Commission, ’ he said.