Govt attempts to embarrass Opposition

Press, 14 October 1985, Page 32

Govt attempts to embarrass Opposition

PA Wellington The Government has tried to embarrass the Opposition by asserting that Parliament had wasted time debating the dismissal of 37 Auckland electronics workers when they had already been offered new jobs. The Opposition called a two-hour snap debate on Tuesday on the redundancies, asserting that they were the result of Government economic policies, particularly the high value of the dollar. The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Caygill, yesterday said that of the 37 workers, 13 had already found jobs. Another 20 had been offered relocation jobs by Fisher and Paykel, which owns two-thirds of Goode Industries, Ltd, the firm concerned.

Some were apprentices who were in demand and four had previously been retired but had rejoined the workforce, he told Parliament.

Mr Caygill said that the

union’s secretary had told him an “extremely good” redundancy agreement had been made. “Those who are going to find jobs within the next week have got the redundancy settlement plus another job.” A third of the workers now had other jobs and the balance was likely to find employment within a week. “I don’t see any cause for alarm in that at all.” Mr Prebble asked if he understood it to be correct that Parliament had set aside time especially to debate the workers’ future when they already had jobs or promises of jobs. The Opposition member of Parliament who called the snap debate, Mr lan McLean (Nat., Tarawera), asked if Fisher and Paykel was as “jubilant” as Mr Caygill appeared to be about the loss of 37 export jobs. Mr Caygill: I am not jubilant... I smile because the member for Tarawera has been caught out.