Unionists seek Labour change

Press, 30 January 1982, Page 2

Unionists seek Labour change

A group of Canterbury trade unionists who have applied to the Registrar of Incorporated Societies for approval to form the New Zealand Labour Party, Inc., has been accused by the president of the Labour Party, Mr J. P. Anderton, of “over-reacting.” The group, mainly comprising members of the Labour Party, applied this week to the registrar, for the right to use the name because they wanted to protect it. A spokesman, Mr P. E. Piesse, said that politicians seemed to think they were the Labour Party and treated rank and file members and trade unions as “errand boys.” Mr Anderton said from Auckland yesterday that the Labour Party was not an incorporated society, but would object to anyone incorporating the name. “I think personally that anyone doing that to preserve the name of Labour ’is over-reacting to what is essentially the opinion of one Parliamentarian (Mr R. K. Maxwell, M.P. for Waitakere). “This suggestion, like many other ideas, has to go through the whole discussion procedure of the Labour Party.” The attempt by the trade unionists was sparked off by Mr Maxwell’s reported proposals last week that the Labour Party should sever its ties with the trade union movement and change the name of the party to Social Democratic. The Canterbury trade unionists have applied for registration of both names — Labour Party, Inc., and Social Democratic Party, Inc. An assistant Registrar of Incorporated Societies, Miss Judith Arnott, said from Wellington yesterday that the Registrar, when deciding whether to approve a name, looked at each application on its merits. An amendment to the Incorporated Societies Act last year gives the Registrar the power to refuse approval if he considers a name is “undesirable.” Miss Arnott said that the amendment came into effect late last year, so the word “undesirable” had not been tested, but it had been tested in the context of the Companies Act in a decision by Mr Justice McGregor in 1964 in South Pacific Airlines versus the Registrar of Companies.