by Don Franks
The Vietnam war continued. Muldoon was yet to dominate New Zealand’s parliament, there was no internet and the Waitangi Tribunal did not exist.
1974 was a different world.
My main memory of ‘74 was being elected to represent my workmates on the Wellington Trades Council. Getting elected wasn’t very difficult. Although it was a time of active unionism, few workers liked attending evening meetings, the leftist car plant union was happy for me to be a council delegate.
The Wellington Trades Council was the local assembly for affiliates of the nation-wide Federation of Labour. Forerunner of today’s Council of Trade Unions, the FoL connected most private-sector worker’ unions. Once a month, accredited representatives gathered for an evening meeting at the Trades Hall in Vivian Street.
The hall was – and remains – a dingy grey edifice in Wellington’s red light area.
Only a small union presence remains in the now multipurpose building. Previously, however, Trades Hall was the union movement’s business and social centre, a place affecting thousands of workers’ lives.
Once a month at 7pm thirty to fifty delegates streamed down the passage leading to the meeting hall, running a gauntlet of hopeful paper sellers: Socialist Action, Tribune, Unity, People’s Voice. Wellington’s marxist left was (more…)