Drivers call for special meetings

Press, 26 May 1984, Page 1

Drivers call for special meetings

By

GLEN HASZARD.

Industrial reporter

Rangiora drivers have called for special meetings of the Canterbury-Westland Drivers’ Union within the next 28 days. The 200 drivers attending the union’s paid half-yearly stop work meeting called for the meetings to be held at Christchurch, Timaru, and Greymouth, under rule 13. The rule concerns procedures for the removal of officers of the union. The resolutions, however, did not specify which officers they wanted removed. The resolutions were passed after being moved and seconded by Messrs Daryl Collins and Ken Taylor. Mr Collins is a former president of the union and Mr Taylor resigned as organiser of the union earlier this month. At a meeting of about 900 drivers in Christchurch on Monday they suc-

cessfully moved a vote of no confidence in the executive and union secretary, Mr Peter Liggett. They were unhappy with an item in the half-yearly balance sheet which said that the union had contributed 516,662 towards legal fees, most of which had been incurred by Mr Liggett and 10 other members and former members of the union in defending a damages claim won by Mr Patrick O’Boyle. Mr Taylor said on Monday that the executive had decided last November that each of the 11 should pay ?500 towards the cost of their defence and that the union would foot the rest of the bill. It had then carried another resolution in February this year, saying that Mr Liggett would be refunded his $5OO and that this decision should be kept confidential. Mr Liggett said on Tuesday that he had originally

paid the 5500 because he thought he was liable, then the union had obtained an opinion from its legal advisers which said that individual officers should not be liable, so he had accepted the refund. Mr Liggett said that the solicitor had pointed out that if officers were to be liable for legal costs incurred while doing union business then the union would have difficulty recruiting officers in the future. The union, which has about 3500 members, has completed its round of halfyearly meetings, one of two paid stop-work meetings a year. Mr Liggett, a former oil tanker driver, has been secretary of the union for 11 years, on the national council of the Federation of Labour, and is president of the New Zealand Drivers’ Federation.

One of the 21 elected members of the union’s executive, • Mr Lindsay Chappell, resigned from the executive yesterday. Mr Chappell was elected last November. He said last evening that he had resigned because he was not happy with the wway some

decisions had been made, and in particular the way decisions appeared to be made by a small group before executive meetings, then when anyone went against those decisions they were “swayed against it.” Mr Chappell said that it had been made clear by Mr O’Boyle on Monday that Mr Liggett individually, had been cited in the High Court, not the union. Two senior trade union officials based in Christchurch said yesterday that the case of the Drivers’ Union had far-reaching implications. “He (Mr Liggett) was acting in his capacity as a union secretary, not as an individual. It makes me a bit concerned with the new legislation (on voluntary unionism) — if, you get into bother and get fined, then your members make you pay the fine yourself,” said one official. Another officer said that the public often saw the union secretary as a union leader, when in reality he was the servant of the union, accountable to the membership. The union, as a corporate body, should be

liable for any expenses incurred by any of its agents, providing the agents were working within the parameters of the union rules and acting in accordance with the decisions of the union executive. The officer said that Mr Liggett had done much to make the Drivers’ Union more democratic, by getting employers to agree to the two paid stop-work meetings each year. “He has involved the membership in a way it had never been involved before,” said the official. A stop-work meeting at Duvauchelles yesterday afternoon gave a vote of confidence in both Mr Liggett and the executive and

resolved that the special meetings be held at the same place as half-yearly and annual meetings. Mr Liggett said that he agreed with that motion because it was fairer to drivers in the scattered parts of Canterbury and Westland and would ensure greater representation at the special meetings. The special meetings would have to be stoppages, so he would have to give employers 14 days notice of industrial action, he said The whole exercise would be very costly, with members having to travel long distances to attend the meetings at the three places mentioned in the resolutions.