Political drop-out to union chief

Press, 19 April 1979, Page 19

Political drop-out to union chief

Sir I hoinas Skinner steps down as president of the federation ol Labour next month, after a term of 16 years. "’The Press" industrial reporter, GLENIN HASZARD, interviewed Sir Thomas in his Auckland office. His report which follows is a glimpse not so much at the man, but at the circumstances behind his choice of career, his ensuing success, and the principles on which he has based his leadership. For Sir Fhomas's own views in depth, readers will have to await his book, due out later this year.

Sir Thomas Skinner once had visions of a successful career in politics. But his political career was short-lived. He was elected member of Parliament for Tamaki in 1946, but three years later he was voted out in a national swing against the Labour Government of which he was a member. Instead, he reverted to his connection with the trade union movement and went to the top, to become the president of the Federation of Labour. National Party politicians have gone so far as to say that when Labour has been in power and Sir Thomas has been F.O:L. president, it has really been Sir Thomas who has been leading the country. Given his political prowess, why did he not pursue a political career? “Perhaps I went into politics at an inopportune time. The Cabinet had been in office for many years. Most were the original Cabinet of the Labour Government when it went in — it was a settled Cabinet and there wasn’t much room for new boys. “They were expected to do as they were told. There was no room for initiators or innovators, of which I felt I was one. “When I went in I had visions of going higher. When you become a politician you make a lot of loyal supporters and they

all keep telling you how good you are, that sooner or later you’ll be in Cabinet or Prime Minister, but I think that’s just platitudes.”

Sir Thomas was critical of the entrenched political brigade and said so in the House of Representatives. “I consider that the political shadow-sparring that goes on is barring the way to progress,” he says.

“When I lost my seat — I hadn’t relinquished the links with the trade union movement — I went back to the unions I used to work for: the musicians, shipwrights, fruit preservers, and theatre workers.

“The Holland Government was talking about doing away with compulsory unionism. Because of that, and because I was not sure of the future of the trade union movement, I opened up a dairy-milk bar in the state housing area of Tamaki. 1 had a wife and two young children to keep."

Sir Thomas was then 40. He had left school at 14 and had worked at odd jobs until he started his own plumbing business, following in his father’s footsteps. He was then in his early 20s, but a long lay-off with a broken leg, coupled with the onset of the Depression, forced him to close the business. In 1937, he accepted nomination for the job as secre-

tary of the Auckland Plumbers’ Union, and that started his career in trade unions.

So at 40, with the Holland Government breathing heavily on to the unionists, Sir Thomas was feeling uneasy. “When it became obvious that the Government wasn’t going to do what it threatened to do, I sold the dairy and continued to work for the unions.”

He had shown strong support for the movement while in Parliament, proclaiming the right of workers to strike, calling for “some system of worker control in . industry,” and accusing employers of exploiting workers.

He was elected to the Auckland Trades Council as vice-president in 1952, a year after the drawn-out waterfront dispute that split the union movement.

“I was one of the younger people in the movement. I wasn’t anxious to get too deeply involved because my sympathies lay with the watersiders (deregistered by the Government) and my loyalty lay with the F.0.L.”

Also, he did not become too deeply involved in the waterfront dispute because it was handled mainly on a national level, with Jock Barnes, Toby Hill, and F. P. Walsh hogging the limelight.

Of Walsh, the then president of the F.0.L.. Sir Thomas says: “I looked on him in the early days with a bit of awe. I don’t think he was selling us down the drain. I think there was a personality clash betwmen him and Barnes (president of the Waterfront Workers Union). “Walsh was very Joyal to the F.O.L. He was keen for the F.O.L. to settle the dispute. Once a dispute is

handed to the F.O.L. the affiliated union must accept the terms concluded by the F.0.L., though in most cases I’ve always discussed the terms with the union officials and got their agreement before settling.

“Walsh was a different kettle of fish. He would recommend the terms to the F.O.L. executive, and once they had agreed the union was told that that was the agreement.

“Barnes was prepared to recognise the F.O.L. to help settle the waterfront dispute but he was not prepared to give it the authority to make a decision.”

Sir Thomas became president of the Auckland Trades Council in 1954 and came under pressure from Labour Party officials to accept nomination to contest the Otahuhu seat, which w'as won by National’s Leon Gotz in 1949 when Labour was swept out of power, but was still basically a “safe” Labour seat.

“I resisted the pressure because it seemed to me too much of a sacrifice to be away from home so much, as well as being busy in the electorate. I decided to remain in the trade union movement.” The Labour candidate (James Deas) won the seat by nearly 2000 votes, though the Labour Party did not win the election until three years later, when Deas had a majority of 3442.

Sir Thomas channelled his efforts into his union affairs, continuing as president of the Auckland Trades Council until 1976, and fronr 1956 to 1959 serving as an Auckland representative on the F.O.L. national council.

Although he had a lot of support, he didn’t stand

against Walsh. “Many of my supporters were disappointed, but I felt I had to serve a term of apprenticeship before taking over as president. I think the support came to me from the anti-Walsh camp and the fact that I was the only one to oppose Bill Fox in the previous year (for the vice-presidency).. I had a lot of pro-Skinn3r support because I was president of the Auckland Trades Council.”

He was elected vice-pres-ident in 1959 upon the retirement of ox, M.P. for Miramar and Minister of Marine and Housing in the Nash Ministry. Upon the death of Walsh in 1963, Skinner was elected unopposed, to: becomee the first Auckland president of the F.O.L. "

He set out to achieve unity in the federation, after a decade or more of turbulence, much of it stemming from the clash of strong presonalities and widespread fear of communism at a time when there was deep mistrust in the West of Soviet expansionism.

“I took over when the union movement was split. The first thing I did — and that had to be done — was to get those unions that had resigned back in. In the first 12 months they were all practically back, in.”

Sir Thomas cancelled his membership of the Labour Party when he became an office-holder in the Trades Council. But he has retained a certain amount of loyalty to the party, without being deterred from criticising its leaders or policies.

“We work better under a Labour Government than under a National Government, especially one that has no experience in industrial relations.”

As F.O.L. president, Sir Thomas has been invited to numerous overseas countries on union business, most of the time at the expense of the host countries, but sometimes at the expense of the working people in New Zealand that he represents. . >oes he feel they get anything back for their money?

“The average working man does benefit. Learning what is happening in

a direct fashion from other countries is very helpful. We find out what progress other countries are making and are able to help the under developed countries.

“I don’t think there is anything more rewarding, or that gives you a greater breadth of knowledge, than travel: and in the trade union movement I think that’s essential.”