Air New Zealand strike

Press, 26 December 1984, Page 14

Air New Zealand strike

Sir,—Two representatives of the New Zealand trade union movement have proved that they rival Arthur Scargill and his lackeys for lack of regard for public opinion. New Zealanders have donated thousands of dollars to faminestricken Ethiopia. They then watched as the dairy workers union prolonged a strike to the point that $3.5 million worth of milk had to be poured down the drain. Next, as thousands of people looked forward to spending Christmas with loved ones, an impeccably timed strike by airline cabin attendants left disappointed people stranded all over the country. If the Labour Government thinks it can reimpose compulsory unionism and still survive the next election it must have either the world’s best public relations firm or the world’s worst political judgment. — Yours, ptc T. R. LOUDON. December 23, 1984.

Sir-Who is greedy? Air New Zealand staff want more money or management wants more service. At ftast one side is rather gfeedy,

so thousands of New Zealanders who have worked and saved for their annual holiday see their year’s dream shattered. Curiously, you save the label “greedy” for a guy who sold cannabis at market rates. Yet beer produces similar effects, and selling it at market rates often gets rewarded with a knighthood. Considering the distress caused by Air New Zealand and the beer barons at this time of the year, it is indeed odd that both groups are ineligible for a jail sentence as imposed on that man whose greed is so small in comprison. — Yours, etc., GRAHAM MURRAY. December 20, 1984.