Ethics may be key to industrial harmony

Press, 26 February 1987, Page 4

Ethics may be key to industrial harmony

The principles of Moral Rearmament can transform industrial relations according to two men from opposite sides of the industrial fence now touring New Zealand.

Mr Paul Gundersen, a Finnish industrialist, and Mr Les Dennison, a British trade unionist, came to New Zealand to attend a Moral Rearmament conference held in Ngaruawahia early this month.

They are now travelling New Zealand spreading the word that the principles of the movement — absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness, and absolute love — can revolutionise all fields of human endeavour and

industrial relations in particular. These were the ethics of Christianity, although Moral Rearmament was “not a religious movement at all,” said Mr Gundersen. However, it created “a new motive for dealing with people,” recognising that in many situations there were “very deep, powerful forces” at work, such as fear and indifference, he said. Mr Gundersen said that he had had wide experience setting up factories in the Third World, where it was common to find the local people demanding the very latest technology. Often, however, the

local infrastructure meant that there were good, genuine reasons why a factory should be “lowtech.” But if the locals did not trust the suppliers, they would believe they were getting rejects thrust upon them. - “If they do not trust you, no argument helps. You come back again and again to the question: How do you create trust?” said Mr Gundersen. L*' Even in Russia and Eastern Europe, he had found that absolute honr esty was the best way to do business, t “ : Mr Gundersen said that it was not naive to use honesty in business. It did not mean telling competitors everything, but it did

t mean ensuring that one’s !, dealings could “stand the i light of day.” ' Mr Dennison, a former 1 Communist, said that * Moral Rearmament had ' given him the ability to 1 think positively about the people he used to blame 1 for the world’s problems, i It was not a case of r giving up what he beI lieved in, he said. “I still hate exploitation, [ poverty, all those I things.” r He saw himself no i longer as Left-wing or Right-wing but "a man : concerned with doing ! what is right.” He believed industrial relations in New Zealand were at the same stage as

Britain’s years ago, with both sides entrenched and saying, “We- don’t trust you.” j He had seen management with “early Victorian” attitudes and unionists “fighting yesterday’s battles with yesterday’s ideas.” Mr Dennison said that he had never known a strike in which the majority of workers wanted to strike. They were harangued into it by officials who were "twisted and bitter, as I. was for 30 years.” However, when merely one man “caught a glimpse of this new factor” and began applying absolute integrity, he would be a catalyst in

solving deadlocks. Mr Dennison said there were examples from British Steel and British Leyland where lowly union officials had begun using Moral Rearmament principles and halted deterioration which threatened to close entire plants. It was a matter of looking at "what is right rather than who is right,” he said. Mr Dennison said that Moral Rearmament had made him more effective in all aspects of his life, and had helped him “find a way back to the Church.” ‘ However, its principles could be? practised by people of any faith. 1 :