New federation starts with Govt blessing

Press, 6 July 1985, Page 9

New federation starts with Govt blessing

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington The Distribution Workers’ Federation, an amalgamation of three unions with a total membership of 65,000, was formally launched in Wellington yesterday with the blessing of the Government. An inaugural conference attended by 85 delegates was held and officials appointed. The result is that Mr Rob Campbell, already a high flier in the trade union movement, has been appointed secretary, a post which has a three-year term. The president is Mr Dougal Soper, of the Southland Drivers’ Union, and the vice-presidents are Mr Jackson Smith, of Northern Stores, and Ms Margaret Keightley, of the Shop Employees’ Union (Northern district). The new organisation is one of the biggest private sector unions in New Zealand and represents workers employed in the road transport, retail sales, and stores industries. It will not, however, be officially gazetted until the Governor-General, Sir David Beattie, has given consent. This is expected next week and is something of a formality as the Cabinet has approved the federation’s establishment. The Governor-General’s approval is not usually needed for such mergers, but is in this case because the Industrial Registrar of Unions, Mr John Scott, has rejected the federation’s application. The unions involved — the Shop Employees’ Association, the Drivers’ Federation, and Northern and Canterbury Stores — have been loosely joined for several years through shared national office facilities under the Distribution Unions banner, but it is a somewhat artificial connection. It was this that Mr Scott apparently took issue with. He told “The Press” yesterday that he had declined the D.W.F. proposal because it did not meet the requirements laid down in the Industrial Relations Act. This specifies that unions must represent related industries if they are to be

allowed to amalgamate, but Mr Scott said the law provided that a declaration from the Governor-General could be sought to override this impediment. He said he had recommended this course to D.W.F. and that the necessary steps had since been taken. The Minister of Labour, Mr Rodger, showed his support for the move by addressing yesterday’s conference. “The occasion gives me great pleasure as I believe strongly in the concept of union amalgamation,” he said. “All unions must be capable of giving greater legal, economic, health, safety, and workplace support to their memberships and this can be achieved through the

pooling of resources.” “When there is multiplicity, for whatever reason, there is divided effort and inevitably the smaller group is frozen out of some more important discussions and consultation with the Government and other organisations,” Mr Rodger said. He said too many unions were too small. Of the 150 affiliated to the Federation of labour, 92 had a membership of less than 1000 workers. This meant that in too many cases, an unacceptably high proportion, of union subscriptions were spent on running costs with the result that there was not enough money left to cater for other needs, Mr Rodger said. The D.W.F. issued a press

statement yesterday hailing its own formation as one of the most significant developments in the history of New Zealand trade unionism. It gave an assurance that all member unions would retain full autonomy at a local level. From a national perspective, the secretaryship of D.W.F. must enhance Mr Campbell’s already strong candidacy for a leading position in the Council of Trade Unions should that be his ambition. The council, which is expected to come into being next year, will amalgamate both public and private sector unions into a single umbrella organisation representing — ideally — all wage and salary earners.