TOO FREQUENT WAGE INCREASE APPLICATIONS NOT LIKED

Wanganui Chronicle, 9 November 1950, Page 4

TOO FREQUENT WAGE INCREASE APPLICATIONS NOT LIKED

Government Favours More Flexible

Wage Payment System

PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Last Night (PA). —In a written reply circulated in the House of Representatives today the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr. Bowden) told Mr. McKean (Opp., Island Bay) that the Government will not amend the Economic Stabilisation Regulations which debar industrial unions from applying to the Arbitration Court for any increase in wages within a year of the making of a general wages order.

Mr. Bowden said the Government considered that frequent general wage orders would be unduly disturbing to the country’s economic life, and were not warranted in view of the greater flexibility given the wages structure by the removal of stabilisation wage ceilings. Mr McKeen said it was grossly unfair that workers should be prevented from applying for wage increases when one Government member had recently chided the Federation of Labour for not making such an application. Profits in industry had never been bigger than at present, and companies were seeking to have their profits kept secret. Yet the Government showed glaring hostility to the trade unions. Mr Anderton (Opp., Auckland Central) asked If the Government did not think that, frequent price increases were disturbing to housewives and workers. It was impossible for workers to maintain today anything like the living standards they had in 1948 or 1949. Mr Bowden: Just nonsense! Mr Anderton said the remark was typical of the Minister’s lighthearted outlook. So long as vested interests were safeguarded he cared little for the workers’ problems. Mr McLagan (Opp., Riccarton. said frequent price increases were more disturbing than wage orders. Even th? National Party was disturbed and Mr Halstead (Govt., Tamaki) had said that price increases were the Government’s biggest headache. Yet the Arbitration Court was being prevented from giving the wage increases which were justified by the acknowledged increase in living costs. The removal of wage ceilings helped few workers. The agreement that general wage orders should not. be sought more freely than yearly intervals was made when living costs were relatively stable, but the present Government, by raising living costs as it had, had destroyed the very basis of that agreement to which it now held the workers. Mr Halstead said Opposition members were arguing in defence of an inflexible wages system which, in itself, created inflationary pressure on living costs. Hitherto, awards when renewed had generally shown some increase In wages apart, from the general orders. He thought the interval between general orders might well be increased to 18 months, while there should

;be more flexibility in the wages system for deserving groups to obtain I justifiable increases without all other workers automatically receiving the same increases. I WOULD NOT TAKE REDUCTIONS. ' Mr Halstead said if the war threat were removed tomorrow and the pressure of world prices eased, the workers would not be ready to accept decreases in wages. He thought a more flexible wages system was desirable. Mr McCombs (Opp., Lyttelton) said the member for Tamaki, from the viewpoint of his own party, had again put his foot in it. He had made very clear that the National Party opposed the workers getting a reasonable opportunity to apply for justifiable wage increases, and thought the interval between general wages orders should be 18 months instead of 12. Living costs were rising rapidly at present, and people in many walks of life were convinced that the increase was more than the 6.6 per cent, shown by the Government Statistician over recent months. Mr Bowden said that the member for Lyttelton had gravely misrepresented the remarks of the member for Tamaki. It should by now be well known that the recent order made by the Court of Arbitration was an interim one. He said that the Government had abolished the stabilisation regulations dealing with wages. That had the effect of making the minimum wage the maximum, which had acted with very great advantage to a large section of the workers of the country. In addition, more in wages was being offered for skill and that had been greatly appreciated by the workers concerned. MISREPRESENTATIONS. Constant misrepresentations had been made by Opposition members regarding the increase in prices and the cost of living. The Opposition was continually playing on a one-stringed harp. There had been an increase in prices all over the world, and even the Labour Government in the United Kingdom had failed to hold down the price of food. How could the Opposition fail to realise the effects of de. valuation of prices, and all the preparation for war? The Opposition had taken exception to the cost of living figures as disclosed by the Government Statistician, although, when the Opnosition was the Government, it relied on those figures to prove its case.