Union men want ‘Labour’ protected

Press, 29 January 1982, Page 4

Union men want ‘Labour’ protected

A group comprising 16 j Canterbury trade union officials, wants to protect the 1 name of the Labour Party. ; The group has applied to 1 the. Registrar of Incorpor- , ated Societies to form the New Zealand Labour Party, Inc, "and the Social Democratic Party of New Zealand, Inc. A spokesman for the group, Mr P. E. Piesse, said... last evening that some Labour Party members' “seem to- think., they are the Labour. Party and have noth-

ing to do with the workers.” He said these people wanted to change the party’s name to attract more middle-class people. “We think Labour has honourable antecedents. If they do not want the name, we do,” he said. Mr Piesse said the problem with Labour was that the party was not homogenous. Politicians appeared to think they were the party and treated rank and file members-and affiliated trade unions as “errand boys.’’/'

The group had sought only ate the societies, but it had considerable support, he said Mr Piesse, who is the vice president of a branch of the Labour Party, said most of the people in the group were Labour Party members and officials. “Given the choice, we would prefer to see the politicians representing us instead of behaving like selfseeking opportunists. If they do behave in that way we have the structure to look ■’after Ourselves,” he said.