Wages negotiation timetable a farce—guild chief

Press, 31 October 1984, Page 9

Wages negotiation timetable a farce—guild chief

The wage negotiations schedule announced by the Government on Tuesday was a farce, said the president of the Sales Representatives’ Guild, Mr Keith Derbyshire, yesterday.

Only one day had been set for his union’s award hearing which was not enough for award negotiations, he said in Christchurch.

The hearing was to be held in Christchurch, but nine of the 10 assessors involved lived in Auckland, he said.

“All the assessors’ expenses are paid by the Government. Holding the negotiations in Christchurch will cost the taxpayer about double what it would cost to hold them in Auckland,”

said Mr Derbyshire. "Negotiations for the Auckland Local Bodies Labourers’ Union, with a totally Auckland membership, are also scheduled to be held in Christchurch. It does not make sense at all,”' he said. Mr Derbyshire said that his union had applied in early August to have its award negotiations held in Auckland on January 29, 30, and 31. These dates have been pencilled in by the authorities, he said. “The first I knew of the final schedule was what I read in the newspaper,” he said. The union was being

penalised because it was not affiliated to the Federation of Labour, said Mr Derbyshire. “The Government is not interested in listening to bodies such as ours because we are not politically orientated, although we have a potential membership of 9000. “We are not invited to the Economic Summit or to the later wage-rate discussions. We have been pushed into the background too often.” Mr Derbyshire said that if the only condition to be negotiated was wages there would be no point in the schedule. The guidelines for any wage increase would be

set by the first negotiations and it was highly unlikely that they would be exceeded later.

“The whole thing is a farce. It is being cut short and is not true award negotiations,” said Mr Derbyshire. The director of advocacy for the Employers’ Federation, Mr Max Bradford, said yesterday that employers and union could negotiate the whole of their award documents.

greater block of awards had been allocated one day. Sales representatives were being treated no better or worse than other unions, he said. “All I can suggest is that difficult issues are discussed on the day set or held over

until the next round of negotiations,” he said.

Mr Bradford said that the places where some negotiations were to be held had caused some confusion.

In one or two cases, hearings had had to be scheduled away from the most appropriate centre, but attempts had been made to minimise cost.

“I do not really know what Mr Derbyshire is complaining about because the Government is picking up the tab for expenses,” said Mr Bradford.

The wage negotiations schedule was organised by Mr Bradford; the secretary of the Federation of Labour, Mr Ken Douglas; the concilliators involved; and the Labour Department.