Unions’ Political Role Hugely Important, CTU president says

Outgoing CTU president Ross Wilson has used his speech opening the CTU conference in Wellington to highlight the importance of the political role of unions.

Wilson has served as CTU president for eight years, and has stood down to take on the position of Chairman at ACC. He will be replaced by former Association of University Staff national secretary Helen Kelly on Wednesday.

In his speech, Wilson said unions are the political voice of workers and need to stand up for workers’ interests. “If we are not recognized as the legitimate voice for workers then there is unlikely to be an effective voice for them.

“Rebuilding a social democratic programme has at times been a struggle for all of us. We all saw the challenge to governmental power with the strike of capital in 2000 over the re-nationalisation of ACC and the Employment Relations Act, and the doom and gloom predictions for the economy - whether it was ACC renationalisation, the ERA, the health and safety legislation, or the Holidays Act.

“And we know the reality – sustained economic growth and the lowest unemployment for 30 years.

“We know that the extremists are still at work, Don Brash’s emails in The Hollow Men are evidence of that, and that there remains a high level of employer hostility to unions - particularly in the private sector.

“We saw that last year with the all-out attack by the largest corporate in Australasia, Woolworths Australia, which was a challenge to, and a test for, the whole union movement. It is now a proud chapter in our history that we all rose to the call for solidarity and mobilised overwhelming public and financial support.

“Over and above our daily struggles we have a national interest to consider; the national interest of developing effective policies and strategies to provide decent work and incomes for working New Zealanders, and for our children and grandchildren. This conference provides the union movement the opportunity to review our work and strategies, and to launch our political strategy and vision for the workplace of the future.”

The conference continues until Wednesday. Ross Wilson’s speech can be read in full at http://union.org.nz/news/2007/ctu-president-ross-wilson-speech-to-open-ctu-conference .