Contest For Seats On Trades Council

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31837, 15 November 1968, Page 12

Contest For Seats On Trades Council

The election of officers of the Canterbury Trades Council next month will be the most hotly contested for 20 years.

A group built round the Canterbury Hotel Workers’ Union, in association with elements of the powerful Freezing Workers’ Union, is making a bid to unseat the establishment.

In retaliation, the establishment has made counternominations.

For as long as veteran union leaders can remember, it is the first time that three out of four key executive positions have been contested. They are those of president, secretary and national councillor.

For seven executive positions other than those of president and secretary, there are 15 nominations.

The secretary of the Canterbury Rubber Workers’ Union (Mr T. Fletcher) is standing against the secre-

|tary of the Canterbury Clothing Workers’ Union (Mr R. A. Hill) for president. Mr Hill is the present president, and a former president of the Otago Trades Council. The general secretary of the Freezing Workers’ Association (Mr F. E. McNulty), who is acting secretary of the Trades Council, and the secretary of the Canterbury Caretakers’ and Cleaners’ Union (Mr L. Lee) are contesting the secretaryship. Mr Lee is clearly in the establishment camp.

One of the most surprising nominations is that of the general secretary of the Workers’ Union (Mr W. A. Dempster), against the present national councillor (Mr L. Short) for the position of national councillor. Mr Dempster is a counternomination from the establishment camp. The alliance of the wealthy Hotel Workers’ Union, the left-wing Freezing Workers’

Association, and the rubber workers is seen by some observers as a strange one. But the return of Mr Dempster to trade council activities is also interesting. In recent years, Mr Dempster has not attended many council meetings. The only executive position in the Trades Council not contested is that of vicepresident, at present held by Mr Short.

The only executive member not seeking re-election is Mr McNulty. The sitting members of the Trades Council who will contest their executive positions are Messrs R. Fergus, E. C. Blacker, N. McNab, W. Cameron, T. Kelly, and G. G. Walker. The other nine nominations for the seven seats arc Messrs S. Harris, P. McGinn, N. S. Wills, A. Ross, W. Hoare, N. Dunnill, L. Fortune, C. McCready, and C. Hanson. The successful candidates will be announced at the annual meeting of the Trades Council on December 5. The meeting will be addressed by the president of the F.O.L. (Mr T. E. Skinner). Asked to comment on the elections, Mr McNulty said that it was a good thing, at times, for the positions to be contested." “It shows a growing interest in the affairs of the trades council,” he said.

The president of the Trades Council (Mr Hill) said that some elements of the trade union movement were attempting “a take-over bid." “They waited until I was in hospital, then the conspiracy started," he said. “The only trouble was that they attempted to organise some very good friends of mine. Instead of joining the I unholy alliance, they spilt the | beans to me.” Mr Hill is now recovered.