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Watch out Unions!

by Salient Industrial Reporter

The National Government will this week introduce its promised Industrial Relations Amendment Bill which will make all strikes illegal except those during award negotiations.

The bill is the final saga in the Government's industrial plan. The first stage was contained in a bill introduced a couple of weeks ago in response to the Drivers' Union's rolling stoppages. It redefined strikes to include stop works, go-slows and overtime bans, and gave employers the power to lay off workers who were affected by a stoppage by a particular section of workers.

This week's legislation, promised by Labour Minister Peter Gordon during the port stoppage last week, is aimed at so-called "political" stoppages, but in fact includes a whole host of measures to thwart union action on any issue.

The main ingredient in the bill is provision for fines of $500 per worker and $1500 per union per day for participation in an illegal strike, which is further defined as anything which is not conducted during annual award negotiations.

Another clause states that every union official, management committee member, organiser or job delegate who calls for, helps, or does not attempt to prevent an "illegal" strike will be fined heavily and may be prevented by a magistrate from holding union office for an unlimited period. This means that the only way a union leader could keep within the law would be by scab-herding.

The clauses on voluntary unionism are the same as those described in earlier Salients except Gordon and his advisers have now dropped any reference to a date for the voluntary unionism ballot. Obviously they will use the voluntary unionism clause as a sledge hammer to hold over the heads of the union leaders.

The Government/Harbour Unions confrontation, which touched the second round of legislation off, was a significant event in the short history of Government/ worker relations under the Muldoon Government. Peter Gordon admitted that he had "underestimated the determination of the Harbour Unions" and even though he refuses to admit that he backed down, his action was to avoid a deregistration conflict for which the Government was not ready.

In doing so he ran into staunch opposition from Muldoon and other hardliners in the Cabinet, who wanted a showdown in which the unions will be smashed for good.

The local press tired to spur the Government on with editorials attacking the unions' "misguided use of power" (Evening Post 30.8.76) and urging it not allow the unions to "rewirte our foreign policy" (Dominion 30.8.76), and the Dominion even launched into front page editorials - trying to build the strike up into a showdown.

But, as the Government realised last week, the unions are presently in a very strong position. The Federation of Labour is united and an increasing number of unions are taking action over the wage regulations and the new industrial legislation. Some employers are now beginning to ask whether the Government is actually acting in their interest by the new legislation.

In fact, Federation of Labour President, Sir Tom Skinner, has put the pressure on employers not to accept the Government's industrial legislation. He said last Wednesday that "employers who make use of recently enacted legislation to suspend non-striking workers will face organised retaliatory trade union action."

If the employers ignore the legislation they will be shaping Government policy. I wonder if they too will be abused and threatened with deregistration.