Retaliation seen in many firms’ lay-off threats

Press, 27 January 1986, Page 26

Retaliation seen in many firms’ lay-off threats

PA Auckland Threats by employers of large-scale redundancies this year are in retaliation for union success in the wage round, says the Federation of Labour secretary, Mr Ken Douglas.

He was commenting on an Employers’ Federation survey in which 22 per cent of the respondents expected redundancies in their industries. The Government had broken a post-election summit pledge that no worker would be worse off under a Labour Government, he said. Mr Douglas said the survey questions were loaded to set the scene for sophisticated aggression by companies. Employers wanted unions to let them buy jobs with lower living standards. The Government needed controls to maintain employment, and unions needed to challenge employers’ right unilaterally to lay off labour, he said. Mr Douglas said the survey showed half the

employers found domestic demand constrained their business. That was because there was not enough money in workers’ wage packets, and wage and salary earners were consumers.

“Production should be geared to consumption by the people of this country. Production just for export markets is turning the country into a banana republic,” he said. The importance of domestic demand was highlighted during the wage freeze. In 1982, the F.O.L. campaigned for a $2O-a-week increase to stimulate the economy and avoid huge lay-offs. But shelves were not cleared and redundancies occurred the next year.