‘Soft-option’ union law likely

Press, 30 October 1984, Page 2

‘Soft-option’ union law likely

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington The Prime Minister, Mr Lange, hinted yesterday that voluntary unionism may be replaced with a more liberal membership system than applied under the old unqualified preference clause. He told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that the necessary legislation would be introduced early in the November Parliamentary session and said the Government had put forward “a variety of proposals to the trade union movement.” • He also confirmed that one of the options was to allow workers wishing to pull out of a union to do so simply by registering with the Labour Department.

They would not, however, be freed from paying their union dues. Instead they would pay them to the department which, after taking a percentage to cover its administrative costs, would pass the balance to the appropriate union organisation. The provision would run in tandem with a system of three-yearly ballots to decide whether workers wanted to keep the unqualified preference clause. The Federation of Labour is believed to oppose the proposal strongly and Mr Lange emphasised that it was “only one type of approach.” -That may be, but comments the Prime Minister made later outlining his thinking on the subject indi-

cate that it is the option the Government is pushing for. “My concern is that the last Government kept saying how important unions were then declared war on their membership and income and hoped to weaken them, he said. “This Government says quite unashamedly that people in the work-place need to be represented and competently.” Mr Lange said he wanted “to take the hypocrisy out of the system.” If workers received benefits from union coverage then, on a user-pays basis, they should contribute towards the cost of that protection. But they should not necessarily be obliged to become

union members. Provision for conscientious objection had always been there, he said. “We are talking about practicalities and realities; the cost of providing services and how that should be shared. “We are looking at a formula which provides for all that to be done without people having to join a union against their particular wish,” he said. “That is the basis.of our discussions and will be furthered in the next week or so,” he told reporters. The general secretary of the Food and Chemical Workers’ Union, Mr Garth Fraser, said many employers would gladly pay the equivalent of a union fee

to the Labour Department to keep their employees out of unions. Mr Fraser said union officials throughout N.Z. were upset that the Government might consider a “soft opt-out option” in its voluntary unionism legislation expected to come before Parliament early next month. “I would say it is more than just a rumour. It is certainly common knowledge amongst the trade union movement at the present time,” he ■said. Mr Fraser said there had not been full consultation with unions and that was not good for the relationship between the Government and the trade union movement