Labour issues ‘not addressed’

Press, 19 April 1989, Page 39

Labour issues ‘not addressed’

Wellington reporter Labour productivity and management informationsharing issues are unlikely to be addressed by the compact between the Government and trade unions, a Labour Department briefing paper released yesterday says. The paper was prepared for the special Cabinet meeting on unemployment held in February, and was released yesterday by the Opposition spokesman on labour, Mr Bill Birch. Mr Birch claimed the paper showed Government officials had identified labour market problems as an impediment to job growth. But much of the paper is given over to justifying the provisions of the Labour Relations Act, introduced in 1987. Mr Birch said the paper showed that “the real hindrance to industrial co-operation — the entrenched attitudes of union and employer groups — has not been changed at all by Labour’s industrial legislation.” The paper said: “To the extent that unions ignore the need for wages to be more closely related to productivity... and employers remain reticent to share information ... then such flexible and relevant settlements will remain limited in number. “These matters lie clearly within the domain of the Labour portfolio,” it said. “It is not expected that they will be addressed in any compact, particularly as formulation of a compact is not dependent on their resolution.” The paper was also critical of pay equity proposals which would bring wages in female-dominated industries up to levels paid in male-dominated industries with similar skill levels. “Such intervention would fundamentally alter the current labour relations strategy,” it said. “It would lead to less appropriate outcomes. “This intervention would therefore inhibit labour market adjustment.” But the paper did not argue that pay equity would cause job losses, as some critics have done.