Cullen holds the line as unions present their list

By KEVIN TAYLOR

Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen preached Government spending restraint - even in the face of union demands -to a union-Government forum this week.

The forum, in Palmerston North, was the first of many the Council of Trade Unions hopes to hold around the country.

Cullen used the chance to preach the message that steady progress within a fiscally prudent and economically manageable framework was the only way to make lasting gains for constituents and supporters.

He warned the Wednesday night forum that the Government had to avoid the temptation to spend the cyclical element of emerging surpluses.

He said an internal CTU report, arising from of a meeting of unionists and Cabinet ministers in November, was an "extremely heavy agenda".

The report, a draft "vision paper" on a joint Government-CTU economic and social agenda, covered issues such as growth, innovation, productivity, and initiatives involving unions and businesses.

The report said too little emphasis has been placed on the "social dimension" of sustainable development - including the importance of building and maintaining sound social infrastructure around education, health, communications and transport.

Cullen said addressing the CTU's total package would be "inordinately demanding" on the resources of unions and the time of Government ministers.

"The sorts of issues raised also carry an implicit price tag for both the Government and employers that can look rather daunting," he said.

The Government's December economic update forecast a $3.5 billion surplus for the year to June, up from the $2.2 billion forecast before the last election.

CTU secretary Paul Goulter said yesterday there was no disagreement between organised labour and the Labour Party.

"Clearly some of the things we are asking for - particularly rebuilding the capacity of the state sector - involves spending money."

But while that required careful work with the Government, the CTU believed working people and their families had been deprived over the last 15 years and it was time the benefits were shared.

"We are quite unashamed about that," Goulter said.

The CTU thought the only sustainable economic growth was growth coupled with achievement of social and environmental goals.

"We have tried economic growth by itself - and hoping the rest of it is going to work - and we found out that didn't work," he said.

"You need to move them all forward together, and I don't think we have an argument with the Government over this."

Cullen said he acknowledged the CTU report did not envisage that everything unions wanted would be delivered in the next year or so.

"It is a marathon, not a sprint," he said. "We do the labour movement no favours by self-destructing in a blaze of socially pure glory."