Bishop calls for end to wages spiral

Press, 10 February 1986, Page 5

Bishop calls for end to wages spiral

The “vicious” upward spiralling wage cycle has to be broken for New Zealand’s long-term benefit, according to the Bishop of Christchurch, the Rt Rev. Maurice Goodall. “Those of us who have the advantage of higher salaries could well forgo seeking continued relativity so that the lower paid workers’ situation can be improved,” he said.

“Unless we do this we risk causing an imbalance which would eventually threaten the viability of a company, an industry, or a public service project,” he said.

“It is surely not asking too much for those who have had the opportunity to be educated in their profession, at considerable cost to our country,

to offer back to our nation their service in return,” Bishop Goodall said.

Skilled workers who held employers to ransom by threatening to leave New Zealand demonstrated an “unacceptable selfishness,” he said. “Another feature of our present negotiations has been the willingness of those in contention to use the threat of strikes or lock-outs at an early stage of negotiations to gain an advantage. Too often this succeeds only in storing up bitterness and the promise of revenge in future negotiations,” Bishop Goodall said.

He said that his views were backed by his experience as a social worker and by consultations with authorities on economics.