Mr Rodger says he has card to play in strike

Press, 14 February 1986, Page 1

Mr Rodger says he has card to play in strike

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington

The Minister of Labour, Mr Rodger, indicated yesterday that he had a game-plan to assist a settlement of the freezing industry pay dispute should the strike drag on.

“One has to examine the prospect of perhaps an ad hoc approach,” he said but declined to elaborate because he did not want to pre-empt discussion with those involved. Implicit in his comments, however, was that he may go outside the normal channels available to him provided he has the consent of both parties.

Mr Rodger has powers under the Industrial Relations Act to compel disputants in essential industries — and the meat industry is one — to go before mediation but his policy is to exercise this only with their agreement.

It is unlikely, therefore, that this option will prove viable because he used it last year with the freezing industry tradesmen and they were not happy with the wage decision. Mr Rodger may also call a compulsory conference but the title is misleading. He may do so only if both sides agree. A third avenue is the ordering of a Court of Inquiry

which may ease the path to a solution by defining the issues. Neither alternative has any real chance of success if the parties have adopted fixed positions and if those positions are far apart — and Mr Rodger’s reading, in this

case, is that they are at stand-off. He has met representatives from the unions and the Meat Industry Association separately and said the meetings had confirmed his impression that they were at this stage rigid in their disagreement, the workers wanting 15.5 per cent and the employers firm on an offer of 5 per cent. For this reason he has not attempted to intervene beyond maintaining a liaison with both camps. "A little bit further out it may be possible to get some agreed procedures to help resolve the dispute but, at the moment, that would not work,” he said.