Affiliation To F.O.L. To Be Opposed

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31131, 6 August 1966, Page 16

Affiliation To F.O.L. To Be Opposed

Christchurch public servants will oppose affiliation to the Federation of Labour when the national council of the Public Service Association discusses this issue at its meeting in Wellington from August 16 to 19.

The Christchurch delegates believe that affiliation would be inopportune. One factor which has shaped the Christchurch attitude is the change by the federation in its voting powers so that there are about 300,000 votes. This voting power would dwarf the association’s total voting power of about 43,000 votes. “What sort of an impact would we have in the F.0.L.?” said one member of the association yesterday. He said that if the association became involved with the federation it would be hard to imagine what members of the association would

do if the federation declared a job black. “Apart from this, who would say that the F.O.L. is not political?” he said. Christchurch delegates believe that their association’s executive council will vote against affiliation. Since 1965, the New South Wales Public Service Professional Officers’ Association has been affiliated to the Australian Council of Trade Unions, as the New South Wales Public Service Association has since 1314. The Civil Service Clerical Association (the largest British service organisation) is affiliated to the British Trade Union Congress, with the accepted reservation that it does not participate in the directly party-political activities of the T.U.C. Last year, after the fifth ballot of members on the issue in 17 years, the National and Local Government Officers’ Association, the largest white-collar union in Britain, affiliated to the T.U.C.