Union legislation for this year?

Press, 29 August 1984, Page 3

Union legislation for this year?

By PATRICIA HERBERT in Wellington

Legislation to scrap voluntary unionism and restore the principle of unqualified preference will be introduced this year if possible, according to the Minister of Labour, Mr Rodger. He told the Wellington Clerical Workers’ Union annual conference in New Plymouth yesterday that he would move “as quickly as practicable” on the issue.

The announcement heralds a new urgency on the

part of Government in fulfilling its election pledge on union membership. Mr Rodger had earlier indicated that the reforming legislation would probably not be introduced until 1985.

He now intends to speed up the process if he can, saying that it has been made “very clear” that his original timetable “would place considerable burdens on some unions.”

However, he fell short of pledging that the law change would take place this session because his initial reasons for delaying it — the severe constraints the late start has put on the Parliamentary programme — still pertain. Mr Rodger’s decision to give the matter higher priority comes after intensive lobbying by the Federation of Labour and within the Government caucus.

Before the caucus met last week, papers were circulated to some members on the impact of voluntary unionism on the trade union movement. Among the facts listed was that it was costing unions $300,000 a month. The “New Zealand Times” has reported that the member for Sydenham, Mr Jim Anderton, and the member for Papatoetoe, Mr Eddie Isbey, argued strongly at the meeting for the urgent repeal of the law but that they did not succeed in wresting a commitment from the Cabinet.

Mr Anderton yesterday declined to comment on what had taken place in the caucus but said that a number of members, particularly those newly elected, had made it clear that they wanted the party’s campaign commitment to restore unqualified preference honoured as soon as possible.

Mr Anderton welcomed Mr Rodger’s announced intention to act quickly on the matter, saying the Minister had shown that he could listen to people and that he was flexible rather than dogmatic in his handling of his portfolio. Mr Rodger told the conference yesterday that he appreciated the “adverse effects” of voluntary unionism on some unions, particularly those with members in scat-

tered workplaces or with a high turnover in membership. “The biggest impact has been the practical difficulty of recruiting new members as they take up employment,” he said. “This has been a much greater problem than the loss of those people who have consciously chosen to resign.”

The unions which were suffering most were not the most militant — “not those with so-called Left leadership” — but those which tended to be moderate.

“As Minister, my objective is to establish a system of union membership based on the principle that those who gain should contribute towards the cost of that gain,” Mr Rodger said. “The way in which this will be legislated for is now being examined in detail by the Government’s caucus industrial relations committee.”

He said there had been a suggestion that voluntary unionism be abolished while the new legislation was being determined and that New Zealand revert by default to' unqualified preference.

“Unfortunately that is more easily said than done,” he told the conference.

“We cannot simply revoke the Industrial Law Reform Act because we would be left with a void, a blank.”