Some wage deals near 11% mark

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 1

Some wage deals near 11% mark

PA Auckland Several in-house wage deals, two as high as 11.5 per cent, were reached in Auckland yesterday. The Northern Store Workers’ Union said it had signed agreements with two firms for pay rises of 11.5 per cent, and another for an 8.75 per cent increase. Earlier in the day the Auckland firm of Mason and Porter, Ltd, agreed to an immediate across-the-board rise of 6 per cent to be “topped up” by 3 per cent from April 1. Within hours the Fisher and Paykel group negotiated a similar agreement to apply to its employees. Union sources said they hoped the settlements would filter through to the awards.

"We hope that if we get enough companies under the belt they will persuade employer assessors to put these levels in the awards,” one source said.

An employers’ spokesman, Mr Ralph Gardiner, said that if enough companies reached such deals then some awards might not be settled at all. Mr Gardiner, a senior advocate for the Auckland Employers’ Association and advocate in the store workers’ award, said, “It clearly demonstrates that awards are not needed.” “We have said all along that if companies want separate deals they are entitled to them. We will not try to stop them. “It reinforces what we have said — that the award system is not suitable to deliver wage increases. The unions are obviously reaching the same conclusions. “They are negotiating on a house basis which is what we have been arguing for for a long time.” Mr Gardiner said settlements being reached would not be automatically passed on to the awards.