Association of University Staff

Media Release

Attn Industrial/Education Reporter Date 10 July 2007

New NZCTU President emerges from AUS ranks

Helen Kelly, General Secretary of the Association of University Staff, will be elected President of the New Zealand Council of Trades Unions at the organisation's biennial conference in October this year. She will take over from Ross Wilson, who is stepping down after two terms.

Congratulating Ms Kelly on her forthcoming election to the NZCTU presidency, AUS National President, Professor Nigel Haworth, said that she is admirably equipped to fill the role played so well by Ross Wilson for the last eight years.

Professor Haworth said that Ms Kelly had brought remarkable energy, commitment and intelligence to the AUS and that those qualities would be invaluable in her new and wider contribution to New Zealand workers and trades unions. “Helen has provided dynamic and visionary leadership to AUS over the last five years, and she has been instrumental in the union's national bargaining process and tripartite discussions with the Government, the latter resulting in significant levels of new funding for universities,” he said.

AUS Deputy Secretary, Nanette Cormack, will act as General Secretary when Ms Kelly takes up the NZCTU presidency.

ENDS

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