Little Andrew: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Little Andrew: Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2012. Volume:678;Page:1202. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
ANDREW LITTLE (Labour) 
: 
 The Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill is a very important piece of legislation. It requires close consideration. I will collect my thoughts to speak about this important topic. We can take this light-heartedly but this is actually very important for the 350000 workers in this country who belong to unions and for the many thousands of workers who are in dispute with their employers at the moment sometimes—on most occasions—totally unnecessarily. It is very pleasing to see that the port workers in the Ports of Auckland and their employer have today reached a tentative settlement before an Employment Court judge by which they can return to work. The employer will abandon its silly plans to contract out disempower them and drive down their wages. 
That is a great victory but those workers went through an extraordinary struggle to get to that point—against all the opprobrium the criticism the comments from the right and the comments from the mainstream editorials that have been deeply opposed to what those workers have stood for. But those workers stood up for what they believed in. They stood up against an extraordinary power and extraordinarily powerful interests. They did it. They voted for strike action they saw it through and they have defeated one of the most iniquitous and insidious attacks on workers’ rights. 
Once again the waterside workers of this country have broken through have set an example for the rest of the New Zealand workforce and they hold their banner high. They do that because they are free to do that. They are free to belong to their union. They are free to make their decisions and their choices. They have done that and they have achieved justice. I am confident they will achieve the ultimate end and they will keep those jobs—and they will be well-paid jobs and efficient jobs. It will be an efficient effective and flexible workforce like they have at the moment. But most important they will retain their dignity and their pride. That is what every worker wants. It is actually what every employer wants. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Order! We are debating clause 6 which has the title “Meaning of strike”. The member can make the sorts of comments he is making but he has to tie them in to the meaning of clause 6. This is not an open debate. The member should be debating clause 6. 
Simon O’Connor 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I believe it is clause 7 we are looking at at the moment. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Oh yes—clause 7. I do apologise. 
ANDREW LITTLE 
: I thought it was clause 7. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: It was my mistake. 
ANDREW LITTLE 
: I thought I was debating clause 7. My comments were completely relevant to clause 7. Having said that we on this side of the Chamber are sitting in jubilation and elation because it has been a great day for the working people of New Zealand. The most brutal struggle for working people has seen the workers victorious. They have stood united; they remain undefeated. That is why it is easy to get confused between clause 6 and clause 7. I am at sixes and sevens tonight—that is indisputable—but now we are focused on clause 7. We are very clear about what it is and it is very important. 
Today demonstrates above all the importance of workers who are free to make their choice and most important free to run their union as they see fit. They make their decisions. That is what voluntary unionism is about. It is a very powerful force. That is why National Governments hate it because they hate working people taking control of their situation. They hate the idea that when working people get together they form their own wisdom and sometimes they stand up. 
The important thing about voluntary unions is that workers are free to come and go and the port workers have stayed they have stuck at it and they have stuck with their union. They have stuck with each other and that is what it is about. That is why this clause is so unnecessary. That is why we just do not need it. You just do not need to add compliance requirement upon compliance requirement for there to be a secret ballot. Ask those workers how they feel about the decisions they took. Ask them how they feel about their union. They are sticking together. They are very proud. Then go and ask the meatworkers who are fighting an even more brutal struggle against Talley’s. Talley’s—totally unnecessarily after barely 10 hours of negotiations—locked those workers out.