A trade union council

Press, 15 August 1984, Page 18

A trade union council

The proposed Council of Trade Unions would be a completely new organisation and not an amalgamation of the Federation of Labour and the Combined State Unions, according to the chairman of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Public Service Association, Mr H. Davey. Mr Davey said that upon the formation of the proposed council, the F.O.L. would disappear and the C.S.U., if it remained, would be only a public sector part of a new organisation. He was commenting on an editorial printed in “The Press” on Monday which said that an amalgamation of the two groups under an umbrella organisation had been under discussion for years. Mr Davey said that the intention

was to include in the new council several unions that were not represented in either the F.O.L. or the C.S.U. As an example, the unions representing local body officers and bank officers had been party to the discussions on forming the council, although neither group was affiliated to either the F.O.L. or the C.S.U. Under the draft constitution, the proposed council “would not be able to indulge in party politics,” although individual unions could do so if they wished, said Mr Davey. “The individual unions would have complete autonomy. Unions such as that of the electrical workers, which have left the F.0.L., may very well wish to join the new council when it is formed,” Mr Davey said.

He described as misleading the contention of the editorial that the C.S.U. had been able to make its voice heard on industrial matters without difficulty. “The fact that C.S.U. representatives have been able to take part in the tripartite wage talks is due entirely to the insistence of the F.O.L. that they do so. The previous Minister of Labour (Mr Bolger) wished to exclude them completely,” he said. “It is unfortunate that the editorial may tend to give ammunition to those who wish to sabotage the formation of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions for the selfish purpose of ensuring that the representatives of the employees do not talk with a united voice,” he said.