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152 
Willing workhorses
Page 4
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THE YEAR of the ten per cent pay award will soon be over, and now the future looks uncomfortably uncertain. Already the Prime Minister has made it public that the next stage of pay policy will permit smaller percentage increases.
In reply, the trade union movement is divided. The "moderatesare prepared to accept another year of restraint, while the "militantswant a return to some form of collective bargaining. But surely the principle in both cases is wrong. Might not both views be served by some other means — for example, by rewarding merit and ability.
Surely if the Treasury was to set a lower limit on income increases and then left it to employers to award merit increases to individuals, the labourer who was worthy of his hire would be amply rewarded. Why should the diligent, conscientious, highly productive employee be held down to the same level as his less productive colleague? Why should the willing horse carry the parasites?
This is what a ceiling on incomes increases does — it levels down, it kills initiative, destroys incentive and turns the willing horse into a parasite. In its next set of pay guidelines, the Government should consider controlled expansion by ensuring that those who work to improve me economy are properly rewarded.