Govt trying to keep lid on wage round

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 2

Govt trying to keep lid on wage round

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington The Government is battling to keep the lid on the wage round against union efforts to beat the 6.5 to 7.02 per cent guideline. Top employer and Federation of Labour executives met separately at the Beehive yesterday for talks with the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, the Associate Finance Minister, Mr Prebble, and the Minister of Labour, Mr Rodger. The meetings were called by Mr Lange but he declined to comment on what had been discussed, as did Mr Rodger. The secretary of the F.0.L., Mr Ken Douglas, said that no firm decisions had been made but that Mr Lange and his Cabinet colleagues had outlined their concern about some of the disputes that had developed. These are centred mainly in the upper half of the North Island and involve brewery workers, storemen and packers, car-assembly workers, and Marsden Point workers among others.

Most are holding out for wage increases above the 7.02 per cent level and the

motivation, at least at leadership level, seems partly political. However, the F.O.L. told the Government yesterday that the wage round, given its background, was proceeding relatively smoothly. Mr Douglas said there were “some irritations in the system” which needed to be looked at, but that the F.O.L. did not see there was anything to be alarmed about.

He said 7.02 per cent was only a guideline, not “a statutory declaration of what will be.” The F.O.L. and the unions had never accepted it as a ceiling and were concerned that some employers were now arguing that they could not negotiate above it.

“There should be flexibility upwards and downwards according to the circumstances of particular industries,” Mr Douglas said.

He also said the F.O.L. had no specific role to play in finding settlements — they were for individual employers and unions to determine.

It had, however, offered the Government assistance where possible in smoothing out problems. Equally,

where the dispute was prolonged through “employer intransigence,” the F.O.L. would assist the unions. The executive director of the Employers’ Federation, Mr Jim Rowe, said that yesterday’s talks had “in a sense” developed out of a call from the Auckland Employers’ Association to the Government to pressure all unions into accepting wage constraint and observing the law.

He said the issues “up north particularly” were serious. Industrial action was taking place that was “quite illegal” and the consequences of it were serious both for the companies concerned and for New Zealand as a whole. Mr Rowe declined to disclose whether the Government had given the federation any assurances that it would act to enforce the guideline. Threats of regulation have already been made by. Mr Rodger but as a lastditch response. It is more likely that yesterday’s talks focused on other weapons in the Government’s armoury; its ability to remove industry protection, to raise import quotas and to alter tariffs.