Union fees

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32561, 22 March 1971, Page 14

Union fees

Sir, —In reply to “Attention Workers,” every member of an affiliated union pays 15c annually to the Labour Party, surely something many unionists would question the necessity for. This must be particularly so at present when that party’s leader has adopted an ostrich-like attitude to recent attempts by the Government to control wage inflation. The increase in union fees will inevitably mean an increase in affiliation fees to the F.0.L., This body cannot be said to be helping the present state of affairs by actions. Mr Skinner has said that the Stabilisation of Remuneration Bill will hamstring the trade union movement, surely an admission that until this bill eventuates, unions will con-

tinue asking for and obtaining wage increases of any outrageous figure they care to name. This must be the time to limit wage increases and so bring some semblance of stability to our economy. —Yours, etc., HAYSEED. Cheviot, March 6, 1971. [Mr A. J. McDonald, secretary of the New Zealand Labour Party, replies: “The question of union fees is a matter for the ’unions concerned. Regarding , his wafflihgs on the Stabilisation of Remuneration of Wages Bill, it is quite obvious that ‘Hayseed’ wants only one section of the community the wage-earner—to bear the brunt of the Government’s mis-management of the country’s economy. The Labour Party does hot support this attitude.”]