Henare Tau: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Henare Tau: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2012. Volume:678;Page:1203. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 I just want to clear up a few things for New Zealand First. 
Denis O’Rourke 
: You’ll be lucky. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Yes I might be lucky but given the speeches in the Chamber tonight from New Zealand First I think it does need some help. This is not about allowing organisations out there to flout what I consider to be a democratic process. If a person in any situation—whether it is right or wrong—wishes to make a decision to withdraw his or her labour then surely to goodness— 
Andrew Little 
: They should do it on their own Tau—that’s right. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: No—surely to goodness you would allow that person the comfort of making the decision without fear or favour regardless of— 
Andrew Little 
: They have it already. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: No I am not talking about that. What I am talking about is the pure and simple reason of democracy which we afford everybody else in this country at an election— 
Andrew Little 
: And they get it. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well of course they do. So why is it any different for a person withdrawing their labour? 
Andrew Little 
: The tie’s only light blue Tau—you can still come back. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh OK. I am not getting into any of this rubbish about the best union organiser or the worst union organiser. Let us get down to some tintacks. It is about democracy. 
Andrew Little 
: That’s right. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Finally somebody from that side says that that is right; it is about democracy. Why is it that the union is so fearful of giving somebody a secret ballot? Why is it? 
Andrew Little 
: Because it’s already there Tau. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh it is already there. Well it is not already there. It is not already there because there are some unions that do not have it—that do not have it. All we are doing is codifying what the Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union already has for its members. So if it is good enough for them why is it not good enough to have in a piece of legislation that if you are going to go on strike you have a secret ballot? If you win you win; if you do not you do not. 
We are not talking about whether a strike is the right thing to do; we are talking about the ability of somebody to withdraw their labour. It is their labour; it is not the union’s labour. It is their labour it is not the union’s labour. It is their labour. Make no mistake—make no mistake—the bleating about the situation at the Ports of Auckland. This is what happened tonight. They have got back into negotiations. That is it. The wharfies did not win. The Ports of Auckland did not win. The people of Auckland now see that both organisations are sitting down and negotiating like everybody expected to—like everybody expected to. Because at the end of the day the belligerent union the guys who run around in their cars and get paid while everybody else is on strike and is losing their pay— 
Andrew Little 
: The members on the picket line. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh they do not like it. They just do not like it. The fact of the matter is this is about individual freedom—individual freedom to cover your hand while you are making a decision. That is what it is all about. I must say that Andrew Little has had one secret ballot in his life and he lost that one up the country. So there we go.