Call to look at other I.L.O. guides

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 25

Call to look at other I.L.O. guides

PA Wellington The Employers’ Federation should concentrate on International Labour Organisation guidelines on arbitrary dismissal, protection of pregnant employees and work hazards rather than compulsory unionism, says the Wellington Clerical Workers’ Union.

This comes after the federation formally complained to the 1.L.0. over the Government’s Union Membership Bill which the federation says would deny workers freedom of association — against the 1.L.0. Convention 87.

The union’s secretary, Elizabeth Tennet, said that it wished the Employers’

Federation would take other 1.L.0. conventions — on women’s rights, maternity leave, childcare and health and safety — as seriously. “One can’t help but be cynical about the Employers’ Federation’s supposed commitment to individual freedom,” she said. “As in all things, a balance has to be found between respect for individual conscience and protection of the common good. That is what the 1.L.0. conventions seek when they lay down guidelines against arbitrary dismissal, protection for pregnant employees and rules against hazardous working conditions. “That is what unions would like to see employers concentrate on.”