F.O.L. opposition fells — Minister

Press, 3 June 1983, Page 3

F.O.L. opposition fells — Minister

NZPA staff correspondent London The Minister of Labour, Mr Bolger, said yesterday that the Federation of Labour’s opposition to his election as chairman of the International Labour Organisation conference in Geneva had “failed completely.” Delegates to the annual conference of the world organisation unanimously elected Mr Bolger to chair the three-week meeting when it opened. The Philippines Labour Minister, Mr Blas Ople, who nominated Mr Bolger, described him as one of the most promising young political leaders in New Zealand. Mr Knox said nothing during the nominating speeches, Mr Bolger said. Mr Knox’s wife, Elizabeth, sat next to Mrs Bolger in the diplomatic gallery at the conference hall in the Palais des Nations. Mr Bolger said that Mr Knox had not told him that the F.O.L. had written to the 1.L.0. director-general, Mr Francis Blanchard, on May 25 opposing his nomination. “I heard about it in a telex from Wellington,” he said. Mr Bolger said Mr Knox was “not in a very communicative mood. I guess he

will get over it. “I was surprised that the F.O.L. and Jim Knox took this stance to try to prevent my nomination as president,” he said. Mr Bolger is the first New Zealander to chair the 1.L.0. meeting since Sir Walter Nash, in 1944. Mr Bolger's nomination was seconded by ' the workers’ vice-president from West Germany and the employers’ vice-president from France. It was also supported by labour ministers from Zimbabwe, Jordan, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, and West Germany, representing the regional groups. Poland boycotted the conference as the three-week session opened, NZPAReuter reports. Protesting against a decision last week by the I.L.O’s governing body to launch an inquiry into Poland’s labour policies, Poland threatened to quit the organisation if the decision was carried out. Mr Bolger made no mention of Poland’s absence in his opening speech. The Polish inquiry, only the seventh such sanction since the I.L.O’s inception in 1919, was decided upon after several requests for information or a fact-finding mission, and after answers by Warsaw were found to be insufficent.

A Commission of Inquiry is the most severe sanction the 1.L.0. can use against one of its 150 members. The United Nations agency, which watches over labour rights throughout the world, makes such a move only when it feels trade union rights are grossly flouted. The governing body wanted Poland, a charter member of the 1.L.0., to justify its outlawing of the free trade union, Solidarity, its treatment of former union leaders, and its more restrictive labour law passed last October. Mr Bolger welcomed the return of China, which is to rejoin officially early next week after the conference cancels its arrears of some $36 million in unpaid contributions. This will clear the way for Peking’s participation in the 1.L.0. after a 34year absence. In 1971, the 1.L.0. recognised Peking as the sole representative of China. The Taiwan Government had represented China in the 1.L.0. from 1949 to 1971. In a report, Mr Blanchard called the return of China a milestone in the organisation’s history. The crisis with Poland built up after persistent criticism by the majority of 1.L.0. members of Poland’s treatment of trade unions after martial law was introduced in December, 1981.