Storemen to go alone

Press, 9 December 1976, Page 1

Storemen to go alone

Members of the Canterbury Storemen and Packers’ Union have voted by 552 votes to 143, with 25 votes informal, to withdraw their union from the New Zealand Storemen and Packers’ Federation, based in Wellington. The secretary of the union (Mr C. W. Keenan) said yesterday that the national office would be advised this week of the decision by the members. The turnout represented only 25 per cent of the total membership of the union, but was a firm majority by those who re-

turned the voting papers, he said. The Press Association reports that the secretary of the federation (Mr P. J. Mansor) has declined to comment on the federation’s next moves until he gets the official confirmation of the ballot figures. He said, however, that the unofficial figures showed that only 25 per cent of the members had voted, and that only between 18 and 19 per cent of the total membership wanted the union to withdraw. To this, Mr Keenan replied: “You cannot force

people to vote. It was a majority decision.” Mr Mansor said also that a cheque sent by the Canterbury union for capitation fees was less than the required amount. Mr Keenan said that the amount sent was the amount requested by the federation. “He (Mr Mansor) told me it was $2OOO. He worked it out, so if it was insufficient it’s over to him to correct it. I’ll send the cheque for the rest if he can tell me what it is.”