Relativities

Press, 19 April 1979, Page 19

Relativities

“I don’t see how the Government can argue about relativities. In September last year, because the Higher Salaries Commission said they had lost, relativity, the secretary to the Treasury got 10 per cent and the Prime Minister got 21.6 per cent salary increases. If it’s good, enough for the Government, why shouldn't we retain relativities?

“You’ve got to remember that in the trade unions there will always be the pace-setters and always those struggling to keep up. That’s how it should be. That’s how progress is made. “In spite of that we don’t seem to be able to keep up with price increases. Everyone looks at relativities from the narrow view. If we wanted to keep up with the cost of living we’d be asking for 47 per cent of what it costs for having an increase in electricity charges and other things.

“If the Government is genuine in doing away with' most of the arguments they would tie wages to price increases. AH that would need to be done would be to set the margins.” Sir Thomas says that the Court will have to be the body to set the margins between different occupations or skills. “The margins would be the minimum rates. What causes problems is when an employer group pays a group above award wages.” He envisages the margins would be set in each industry. “It’s done to a small extent here already, but the great difficulty is that too many of these margins are tied to someone outride the industry." Indexation of wages and the cost of living would cut by half the disputes. That is Sir Thomas’s personal view; he says it is not shared by the employers or by the Government.