AUCKLAND CARPENTERS’ UNION VOTES SOLID FOR PRESENT EXECUTIVE

Wanganui Chronicle, 31 May 1950, Page 5

AUCKLAND CARPENTERS’ UNION VOTES SOLID FOR PRESENT EXECUTIVE

AUCKLAND, Last Night (PAL— Members of the Auckland Carpenters’ Union in a postal ballot for the annual election of their officers voted by more than two to one in favour of the whole of the present executive’s “ticket.” Two complete “tickets’’ were put up for nine posts, one by the sitting executive representing the men who broke away from the Com-munist-led union deregistered during last year’s lengthy dispute, and the other by former officials of the old union. The latter joined the new organisation to make a bid to resume control on Ihe grounds that, it had been formed by “scabs” and was “boss controlled.” Of the 2074 members financial at Jhe time the ballot papers were distributed over ten days ago, 1834, or 90 per cent, exercised the’.r vote. This is one of the few occasions on which an independent returning officer has been called in to conduct a postal ballot for the election of union officers. The counting of the votes was done today at the office of the assistant superintendent of the Department of Labour and Employment, Mr H. S. Hurle, who acted as returning officer. This occupied the best part of the day and was carried out in the presence of seven scrutineers. The following was the result for the principal offices as confirmed by the scrutineers tonight: President, Mr R. Kemp 1237, Mr L. Moor 593: vicepresident, Mr T Hill 1263, Mr R. French 559; secretary, Mr D. Murphy 1222, Mr Stanley 600; organiser, Mr C. Ross 1231, Mr McEwen 590. All five seals on one executive committee were won by supporters of the sitting officers. Exceptional interest was taken in the struggle for the key post of secretary, between Mr Murphy, secretary of the Kohi-Mission Bay branch of the Labour Party, and Mr Stanley, Communist candidate for Onehunga in the last Parliamentary election and former secretary of the Npw Zealand Carpenters Union. Speaking on behalf of the executive tonight Mr Hill said the overwhelming vote in favour of the sitting executive’s candidates had vindicated the action that had been taken last year to form a new union.