Stores union to retain its Labour Party affiliation

Press, 23 April 1986, Page 9

Stores union to retain its Labour Party affiliation

In spite of misgivings about the direction the Government is taking, the Canterbury Stores, Packing and Warehouse Workers’ Union has voted to remain affiliated with, the Labour Party. About 390 of its 500 members (78 per cent) at a meeting of the union in Christchurch yesterday opted, in a secret ballot, to remain affiliated, but also to criticise, when necessary, the Labour Party.

The union has been affiliated with the Labour Party for four years. The request for a vote was raised at a meeting late last year, when members criticised the effects of the Government’s economic policy, said the union’s secretary, Mr Paul Piesse.

They also called for a senior Cabinet Minister to attend the next meeting. The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, yesterday spoke to the union and answered questions on its relationship with the Labour Party.

It was the first time he had spoken at a union meeting since joining the Cabinet, said Mr Palmer afterwards.

He spent most of his time answering questions on matters such as the state of the economy, interest rates, goods and services tax, housing, overtime rates, the gap between the high-paid and low-paid, and whether a union should be affiliated to any political party.

Mr Palmer said it was up to the union to decide on affiliation.

Although members might not like everything the Government did, he said, it was to their advantage to remain affiliated to a party that took much greater interest in trade unions than did the Opposition.

Although most of the questions indicated concern about the state of the economy, Mr Palmer said he was pleased with the response and conduct of the meeting. It had given him the chance to meet a group of people he did not normally meet, and to hear their concerns and questions. This was the first union to ask for a senior member of Parliament to discuss affiliation, said Mr Palmer. Others might follow suit. Mr Piesse said that the presence of Mr Palmer had stimulated more discussion at the meeting than usual. It had given members some understanding of what the Government was struggling with, but had also left members divided as to the method of solution.

The national secretary of the Distribution Workers’ Federation, Mr Rob Campbell, said the federation’s leaders rated Labour Party affiliation very highly.

Affiliation of the federation had been considered but at present the

federation preferred individual unions to affiliate, to ensure that the issue was dealt with by the rank and file, he said. Seven of the member unions, including Canterbury’s, were affiliated. Affiliation gave unions a political voice needed to achieve such things as paid educational leave and wage-fixing legislation, Mr Campbell said. Industrial means were not enough.

As well, affiliation ensured that unions had some impact on politics and the selection of political candidates. It ensured that working-class views were represented. It made sense to affiliate with a party that was interested in trade unionism, he said. Such affiliation, however, should be reviewed regularly by union members.

Mr Campbell also told the union members that the federation would be decentralised over the next few months.

At a meeting two weeks ago, the federation had decided to reduce its national Wellington office strength, and to disperse its five industrial staff to offices in Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington. The aim was to bring the federation’s researchers and advocates closer to its members, he said.