Corporate take-overs may benefit workers, union secretary says

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 12

Corporate take-overs may benefit workers, union secretary says

PA Wellington Corporate take-overs may benefit workers in the long term, said the secretary of the Distribution Workers’ Federation, Mr Rob Campbell. He was not as negative about take-overs as some of his union colleagues, he told the Wellington branch of the Institute of Management. “The take-over process is not inherently more disruptive than other forms of corporate growth,” he said. “If the take-over is properly financed and planned and the object of the take-over is a potentially productive enterprise, staff may be better off in the longer run. “If the enterprise is not

potentially productive the take-over may only have hastened the inevitable. Put bluntly, workers in this economic environment have to choose the best of all practicable, rather than of all possible, worlds.” Mr Campbell Said the disruptive impact of the present economic restructuring on people’s lives had been greatly increased by postponement of political and industrial decisions in the past. “The cold-turkey treatment facing several industries is tough and many people are being hurt,” he said. “We need to remember that while enterprises may not need protection, people do.”