Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 21. August 28 1978
The Unofficial Employers' View
The Unofficial Employers' View
Graeme Clarke of the Coachworkers' Union look issue with a number of these points. He said he was well aware of the official employers' line on unemployment, but did not consider it bore much relation to their actions. He took Todd Motors as his example. At the time of the layoffs earlier this year there were 1,500 units stockpiled. People just did not have the money to buy cars.
Layoffs occured when there were too many goods being produced and not enough money around to buy them. To increase productivity, and thus flood the market with even more goods could not possibly rectify this situation. Similarly, moderating wage demands, and thus further restricting buying power, was not the answer. Real wages had been falling since 1975, and yet unemployment had been growing.
The unofficial employers' view, he suggested, was that unemployment made people work harder and better. To demonstrate this he quoted from a top level business circular which related how at one car firm output had been increased from 165 to 200 units a week with only 40 extra staff, instead of the 70 that would have been needed last year. The article stated. "In weeding out surplus staff, employers have necessarily added to the unemployment problem, but it is hoped that with higher efficiency ... extra business can be secured."
The figures could only apply to Todds, and it was to counter this sort of attitude that the Coachworkers had initiated an overtime ban. Overtime at Todds was worked right up to the time of the layoffs, and now that the employers were finding it harder to get more from less workers old jobs were being reinstated. Needless to say, the employers were reacting bitterly.
Clarke also related a few other facts about unemployment. He put the current figure at over 100,000 (which is close to 6% in a country used to less than 1%). One of the problems was that the unemployed tended to stay [ unclear: o it] of work, because the policy of last on, first off meant every job they went to they were also first to leave. Workers who became involved in union activities were often blacklisted.