DISAFFILATION CARRIED

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29931, 19 September 1962, Page 14

DISAFFILATION CARRIED

Electrical Workers To Leave F.O.L.

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, September 18. The North Island Electrical Workers’ Union has overwhelmingly voted to disaffiliate from the Federation of Labour. Mr K. Parry, of Wellington, the returning officer appointed by the union, said today the voting was 2258 to 540.

“The result of the ballot is a clear and unmistakable warning as to the attitude of workers to the present leadership of the Federation of Labour,” said the secretary of the union (Mr A. J. Neary) tonight.

“The voting is an overwhelming endorsement of the stand which officials of the union have taken on this issue,” said Mr Neary. “The voting shows what the workers think of the unremitting efforts of Mr Walsh, the members of the national executive of the Federation of Labour, and Mr J. F. Taylor, the Auckland branch secretary of the union, to influence members of the union on this issue. “The result should indicate the desirability of leaving unionists to deal with their own affairs, instead of yielding to outside influences which are particularly active in the trade union movement at the present time.

“The result of the ballot should be taken by the present leaders of the F.O.L. as a warning against their tendency to abandon trade union principles for considerations of personal power. “I desire to make it clear that the officials of the union believe in a federation of unions and are fully conscious of the desirability of united action.

“We do not, however, believe in the type of federation which seeks the support of affiliates by coercion. “Federation in principle is good, but it must be a federation which is primarily concerned with the welfare of the trade union movement,” Mr Neary said.