Govt-imposed wage guideline unlikely

Press, 15 November 1984, Page 4

Govt-imposed wage guideline unlikely

PA Wellington The Government had no intention of imposing a wage guideline if a mutually agreed position could not be reached in pre-award-round talks, said the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, yesterday. Soon after meeting the Federation of Labour’s national council yesterday afternoon, Mr Lange said that' the new wage-fixing system did not require a tripartite guideline agreement before the award round.

"If you get a guideline, that is good ... we will be wanting a credible guideline,” he said. “But if you do not, you move from there to negotiations.”

The employer, Government and union officials involved in the tripartite guideline working party are due to meet in Wellington today and tomorrow. Under the new wage-fix-ing system, the working party is expected to issue a

mutually agreed document. But if this is not possible, the various divergent views of the parties can suffice.

“A guideline is not an absolute essential before you move into the full round

... this is not a Government by decree,” Mr Lange said. Asked about the reaction of F.O.L. national councillors to his statement that the Government’s guideline position was “closer to zero than the 20 per cent being talked about,” Mr Lange said: “They’re realistic people in the trade union movement.”

The president of the F.0.L., Mr Jim Knox, said that he was unhappy with guideline proposals in the zero to 4 per cent range.

“We will not be looking for a nil order ... we will be looking for an across-the-board wage increase,” Mr Knox said. The Retailers’ Federation has joined calls for restraint

by unions in the December wage claims. New Zealand could not afford big wage increases and the Government’s reported 4 per cent figure was more realistic, said the federation’s president, Mr lan Halstead, yesterday.

“We must have a wage round that keeps the potential benefits of devaluation working in New Zealand’s favour so that the country can trade its way out of its present financial difficulties," he said.