Douglas critical of union power

Press, 6 April 1989, Page 1

Douglas critical of union power

By

PATTRICK SMELLIE

in Wellington

The Government is stoking up racial tension by failing to deal practically with unemployment, and keeping many able people out of jobs, the former Minister of Finance, Mr Roger Douglas, said in Melbourne yesterday. In a stinging attack on union power, Mr Douglas again predicted a loss for the Labour Government at the next election. Politicians claimed unemployment levels were intolerable, but at the same time were stacking the deck against those wanting jobs. “The fact of the matter is that so far, the Government has been unwilling to care in a real practical way,” said Mr Douglas. This was not because of policy conviction, but “because it has been putting its own political selfinterest ahead of the interests of the nation.

“We have not been willing to put union interest groups under the same pressure we applied to other interest groups,” he said. Trade unions were using their privileged position of power

under the Labour Party constitution to influence the Government.

“Groups of union officials, who were not selected by any democratic process, appear to be acting to prevent the reselection of key members of Parliament and Ministers who do not see things their way,” he said. Meanwhile, the refusal to deregulate the labour market was pushing unemployment to "high and avoidable levels.”

Claiming public understanding of labour market issues in New Zealand was “virtually zero,” Mr Douglas said few people knew how much poor labour market arrangements were causing job losses. National award documents forced companies which could not pay to sack, workers or close. Employers in some cases were prevented from paying extra for certain vital workers, and were thwarted when they attempted to strike deals with their own employees. Citing the case of women airline stewards, Mr Douglas said union monopoly could and did seriously prejudice the rights of

union members.

“It took an outrageous 17 years for those women to win justice through the courts,” he said. “They were not permitted by law to form a new union to represent their interests.”

Nor could they leave the union and join another. Inflexible penal and overtime rates were keeping many wouldbe working mothers with children out of part-time work, and award rates prevented many young people from being employed. Training schemes like Access were expensive. Young people could be trained on the job far more cheaply, if employers were allowed to employ them at below award rates. This would reward them "at a level which matches what they have to offer initially. “If that was not adequate incentive and reward, why not top it up through income maintenance at first?” said Mr Douglas. Mr Douglas said unions were "largely exempt from the legal and economic consequences of their actions.”