Voluntary unionism to be revoked

Press, 4 March 1982, Page 3

Voluntary unionism to be revoked

PA Wellington The Government will revoke the voluntary unionism ballot legislation it imposed after the 1975 General Election. The National Party caucus yesterday agreed there was no discernable wish for voluntary unionism amongst members of the country’s trade unions and decided to scrap legislation which provides for a ballot of all trade union members every three years. The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) told a press conference the move had been suggested by the Labour Department, to save the $500,000 the polls cost.

The ballots were a National Party campaign promise before the 1975 Gen-

eral Election, but Mr Muldoon said an analysis of the polls showed that on average, only 33 per cent of union members had bothered to vote on the issue. Of these, 84 per cent voted in favour of retaining compulsory unionism, 15 per cent voted for voluntary unionism, and 1 per cent returned informal votes. The caucus had agreed that it was “pointless” to continue the ballots, he said. Although the compulsory ballot will be scrapped, unionists will still be able to demand a vote on the issue. The legislation will be amended to allow 50 people or 10 per cent of the membership of the union — whichever is smaller — to request a ballot.

Mr Muldoon said it was clear there was “a high degree of apathy among unibhs” on the issue. However, he said he personally regretted unionists had not taken the opportunity to do away with compulsory unionism. The president of the Canterbury Trades Council, Mr W. R. Cameron, said he was pleased the unions had been relieved of the obligation to hold the ballots. “We always considered them to be unnecessary, but the exercise did prove a point and the Government must now be in a position to tell the back-benchers, who claimed that the majority of workers had no faith in their unions, that they have been proved wrong.” he said.