HOME OF ITS OWN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 5, 6 July 1939, Page 20

HOME OF ITS OWN

N.Z. WORKERS' UNION

BUILDING IN VIVIAN STREET

Recently, because of the need of more accommodation and the inability of the Trades Hall building in Vivian Street to meet this demand, the offices of the New Zealand Labour Party were transferred to the D.I.C. building. Shortly there will be another removal from the Trades Hall for the same reason. In this case it is the New Zealand Workers' Union, but the union will be moving to permanent quarters of its own, not far from the centre of the trades union movement in Wellington. It has purchased a section in Vivian Street almost opposite the Trades Hall, and has built a two-storey reinforced concrete building, now nearing cejspletion. In the past few years the membership of the New Zealand Workers* Union has increased, and this in turn has increased the volume of work for attention by the office. The rooms occupied by the union in the Trades Hall comprise not only the head office of the union, but also the Wellington district office. They have not been separated and the duties of the two offices have been conducted by the general secretary, Mr. A. Cook. The Wellington district of the union is a very big one; in fact, it is the largest of all. It extends to the Mokau River on the west coast of the North Island and to Wairoa on the east coast, and also includes Marlborough and Nelson.

A decision has been made to appoint a secretary of the Wellington district, and in this way to separate the two offices. The extra accommodation required was not available in the Trades Hall, so that it became a question whether other premises should be rented or the union should build. The desire was to be as near as possible to the Trades Hall, and accordingly a decision was made to build.

The building being erected for the union is simple in design, but it will provide greatly-improved accommodation. There will be offices for the union's headquarters staff and the Wellington district, and in addition a meeting room capable of accommodating an attendance of 250. It is expected that the building will be ready for occupation in a few weeks. The Wellington branch secretary has not yet been appointed, and probably will not be for about two months. Branch offices of the union are already established in Auckland, Gisborne, Christchurch, and Dunedin. ,