Workers face ‘Third World conditions’

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 9

Workers face ‘Third World conditions’

NZPA-AP Geneva Workers in Europe and North America face “Third World working conditions” because of the uncontrolled introduction of new technology to their workplaces, said the International Metalworkers’ Federation. New technology could also eliminate up to 28.8 million jobs in the United States, West Germany and Finland by the mid 19905, the I.M.F. said in a report titled “Metalworkers in their Technological En-

vironment.” Introducing the report at a world union conference in Denmark, the I.M.F. general secretary, Mr Herman Rebhan, cited several examples of what he called “the arrival of Third World labour practices and working conditions in the heartlands of the manufacturing nations.” One company in Wales had “invited” workers more than 35 years old to retire in favour of younger replacements, Mr Rebhan said. He doubted that would

happen "in a Japanese company.” The I.M.F. report said a Swiss watchmakers’ company had installed closed* circuit television to supervise workers on the production line. It said that “smokestack industries” — auto, steel and shipbuilding — were not necessarily “doomed” by the new so-called high technology businesses like computer manufacturing. “In fact, the performance of many computer and hightech companies has been erratic, many have gone bankrupt and the jobs created are neither numerous nor well paid,” the report said. It said "rejuvenating declining industries,” would be more economical than starting some of the new, hightechnology businesses.