Mr Liggett loses job

Press, 20 July 1984, Page 1

Mr Liggett loses job

The secretary of the Canterbury Drivers’ Union, Mr Peter Liggett, was ordered out of his office at the Trade Union Centre in Christchurch yesterday by the union’s president and vice-president. Mr Liggett is the second Canterbury union secretary to lose his job in the last nine months. Mrs Doreen Shannon resigned as secretary of the Canterbury Clerical Workers’ Union in November last year at the request of the union’s executive. Mr Liggett said yesterday that a third union secretary’s job was on the line. He did not name the official concerned. Mr Liggett’s removal from office came after 20 meetings of drivers at 19 centres, the last at Hokitika yesterday. After the Hokitika meeting, Mr Liggett was approached by the union’s president, Mr Dave Nutira, and its vice-president, Mr Fred Simmonds, and told to return the union car and keys by 9 a.m. today. Mr Liggett said that, when he returned to his office at the Trade Union Centre in Christchurch about 4 p.m., he was told by Mr Nutira and Mr Simmonds to leave the office. “I advised him that I would not be returning any property of the union until such time as I was paid up and I said that I would reporting to work every day until next Wednesday when the executive meets,” Mr Liggett said. Mr Liggett said that the executive would also consider whether to proceed with an appeal to the Court of Appeal against a High Court decision to reject an application by him and 10 others for a retrial of a

damages claim against them by Mr Patrick O’Boyle. A total of ?52,400 was awarded by a jury to Mr O’Boyle last December. If the executive decided not to proceed, it would still be open to him as an individual to proceed, said Mr Liggett. “My situation during the O’Boyle trial was to protect members and the organisation. Now that I am released from that responsibility I shall be letting certain facts be known,” he said. Mr Liggett said that he was seriously concerned about the role of the New Zealand Drivers’ Federation before and during the series of meetings over his removal from office. “I have serious concerns that a Socialist Unity Party member will take the position I hold as president of the federation. A campaign has been orchestrated in that direction,” said®Mr Liggett.

He said that there had been certain differences between what federation staff had told him and what had happened. f ‘l tried to raise this with Mr McCaffley (H. S. McCaffley, secretary of the federation), and he hung up on me.” Mr Liggett said that there was no reason why he should not continue as president of the federation. “When Ken Douglas became secretary of the Federation of Labour he continued as (a union) president, so setting a precedent,” he said. Mr McCaffley said yesterday from Wellington that there was no precedent He said that a council meeting would probably be held and a decision made on the position of president in accordance with the federation’s democratic rules. Mr Liggett is also a representative of the Canterbury. Trades Council on the national council of the F.O.L. He was elected to the position at the annual meeting of the Trades Council late last year. • Mr Liggett said that his future was uncertain. He

would' have a break from next week after the executive meeting and whether he offered himself for nomination as secretary when the position was advertised would depend on whether he found another job. He said that under the union’s rules he would continue to be a member of the union after his removal from office. One of the problems with getting a job outside the union movement was that union officials were considered to be “stirrers” and so were not very employable.’ “I may have to go on the dole,” he said. Mr Liggett said that he wanted to thank the people he had dealt with as a union officer. “I have had some good relationships with members, employers and staff,” he said. Mr Liggett has also picked up a reputation as a moderate and a man who sticks to his agreements with employers. Mr Liggett said that he did not disagree with the ballot procedures by which he was removed from office, but he did object to what he called lobbying and the “unprecedented” release of progress counts of ballots held at the meetings. P

At the union executive’s meeting on Wednesday an interim secretary will be appointed until the annual meeting of. the union late this year. However, Mr Liggett said he knew of no-one who could take on the position or who was prepared to take it on. Mr Niitira said last evening that he had asked Mr Liggett to leave the union office because he had been “yelling and screaming and carrying on about the resolution.” “In his view, because the

whole membership did not vote the ballot was invalid.” The total vote was 899 for the resolution, 456 against, and 24 informal, compared with a total membership of 3500. “If that were the case, Muldoon would have been in office for ever,” said Mr Nutira. Mr Nutira said that he would not expect Mr Liggett to work at the office any more because the membership had dismissed him. On the question of the

appeal to the Court of Appeal, Mr Nutira said that neither the application for a retrial nor the question of an appeal had been passed by the executive. ' Mr Nutira said that he had never heard of any attempt by the S.U.P. to get the joo of president of the federation, and he did not accept that that was so. ”1 think the federation has done everything it can to assist him and support him as far as it can go in this.”