Gerry Brownlee MP
National Party Deputy Leader

06 September 2005

Unions must back off, warns Brownlee

National Party Deputy Leader Gerry Brownlee says public service bosses must rein in trade union activists distributing pro-Labour, anti-National propaganda.

“At this election, the trade union movement has become a stalking horse for the Labour Party and the Greens. The public should be very sceptical about any of the material being circulated by them.”

Mr Brownlee says he is pleased that the Bay of Plenty District Health Board took action to stop the distribution of pro-Labour propaganda at Whakatane Hospital.

“Labour and the Greens are hypocrites. They have wrongly accused National of distributing anti-Green and anti-Labour pamphlets, yet they are tacitly endorsing this kind of union interference in the democratic process.

“Some of the union propaganda has been endorsed by Darien Fenton (a Labour candidate) and it actively instructs people how to vote.

“Union members need to send a message to their management. Clearly, the latest polls show union bosses do not have the unanimous support of those who are paying their wages.

“In June, National revealed Labour was using taxpayers’ money to help boost the coffers of its union mates.

“Courts and Work and Income staff were offered large one-off payments if they became union members by certain dates. If the staff members refused to join the union, they did not qualify for the payouts.

"This is compulsory unionism by cheque book. It has allowed the union movement to build an election year war-chest which they are now spending,” says Mr Brownlee.

ENDS

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