Ross Jami-Lee: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ross Jami-Lee: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2012. Volume:678;Page:1205. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) 
: 
 Andrew Little told us that workers are free to join a union. He told us that they are free to stay in a union. But what workers are not free to do is vote in a ballot free from intimidation free from standover tactics and free from the bully-boys who are scared that the union’s desires may be found to be wanting. 
This Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill is a good bill. This clause 7 is a good clause and I am surprised that the Labour Party is not supporting it. I am surprised that it is not supporting it because it is supposed to stand for the small guy. It is supposed to stand for the little guy on the line doing the hard yards—the little guy whose job and whose pay cheque are at stake when they go on strike. Labour should be supporting this if it supports the little guy but really it is more concerned about the union. It is more concerned about the union being shown up by its own members. 
We have heard a little bit about the port tonight. What has not been said are some of the— 
Simon Bridges 
: Too much drinking of port. 
JAMI-LEE ROSS 
: Mr Bridges! What we have not heard about the port is some of the things that have been in the paper that have been done by union members. We have had people on independent employment agreements who have been intimidated by union members. We have had people trying to get to work being stopped by union members and being stopped by union officials. We have had people on cranes trying to do their job but some of the union members have been trying to obstruct that from happening. 
I would have to say that if I was one of those workers wanting to cast a ballot that is different from what the union officials want and I had those types of people standing over me telling me that it is wrong to vote against their desire for a strike then I would be scared to vote against it. But if they had a secret strike provision where they could make their own democratic choice around the strike they could do so without fear of having comeback on them. 
I have got a bit of a confession. It is a deep dark secret that I have been bottling up for many years. I once joined a union. I am a bit ashamed to say it; I am a bit ashamed to say it. But it took me only a few months to work out what was wrong with that decision because every week part of my pay cheque went out of my pocket and it did not go anywhere useful for me as a worker. So what I did was I decided to stay away from the union and I went on to an independent agreement. But if I was ever sitting there in a meeting having to vote on a strike then I would want to know that I am not going to have union officials and union members breathing down my neck telling me I could not decide against a strike. 
This is a good provision. It will bring democracy to the little guys—the little guys whom the Labour Party is supposed to be supporting. It does not support the little guy any more. It just supports the unions. It supports the union officials like Andrew Little and Darien Fenton and it should be supporting this. 
The question was put that the following amendment in the name of Darien Fenton to clause 7 be agreed to: 
to add the following subsection to new section 82A: 
(5)For the avoidance of doubt the legality of a ballot can only be challenged by a member of the union holding it.  
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: A party vote was called for on the question that the amendment be agreed to—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! This House has by tradition not had comments under voting for two reasons. It is hard enough to pick up exactly the diction of some people when they are voting. That is one. Two is that no person will vote in this House under any sort of duress—none whatsoever. If there are going to be interventions during voting people will take an early shower. Let us make that quite clear.