F.O.L. supports a Labour Govt

Press, 6 August 1987, Page 4

F.O.L. supports a Labour Govt

PA Wellington, The re-election of the Labour Government was vital to the survival of the trade union movement, said the Federation of Labour’s secretary, Mr Ken Douglas, yesterday. Addressing the Post Office Union’s annual conference in Wellington, Mr Douglas admitted there was little difference between Labour’s free market policies and the alternatives proposed by National. But he said another three years under Labour would provide the union movement with the opportunity to ensure solutions to its concerns were heard, and acted upon. Mr Douglas said any differences between the two main parties probably related to a matter of degree or time. “Bolger would do it in five minutes. The Labour Government’s proposition is to do it in three years.

We’ve got to buy that time,” he said. Mr Douglas said workers recognised the dangers National posed to the union movement at the last election, and created the conditions which led to that party’s defeat.

Unfortunately, it did not affect the free-market philosophies of the Business Roundtable and that business group "went into overdrive” to ensure the thrust of its economic agenda continued. Many people had been surprised by the speed and change of economic direction in the last few years but the experiences were not new. Formation of the trade union movement was a direct result of the free-market policies in New Zealand in the mid-1880s.

However, Mr Douglas warned, all the hard-won gains of the last 100 years were now in danger of

being stripped away. “All those things which we’ve established in that very long period of struggle. All those things are on the block, they’re up for grabs,” he said. “Our struggles are now centred around trying to constrain, control and to keep as many elements of those gains as possible.” Mr Douglas said one of the biggest challenges facing the union movement was to rid itself of its defensive mentality and to develop initiatives that would place unions on the offensive. Unless unions developed a strategy for the future they would be beaten to it by the people

who controlled and influenced industries. The latter would result in workers for ever scrambling among themselves for a few lousy dollars of redundancy, or trying to keep jobs at the expense of others, he said.