Hon Christopher Finlayson

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I am delighted that the Green member Sue Bradford mentioned the Blackball Workingmen’s Club, because on Easter Sunday I was there with Mr Auchinvole for the seminar that was held as part of the weekend commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Blackball strike. What happened was that Mr Auchinvole asked me whether I would like to attend, and being open-minded, liberal in spirit, and a student of history I accepted with alacrity. It helps that Blackball is one of my favourite towns and the coast is my favourite part of New Zealand.

I am sure Ms Bradford would confirm that it was a most enjoyable day. Indeed, Mr Auchinvole and I were made very welcome by the good people of Blackball, by the trade unionists, and by most of the other attendees, including, I am pleased to say, Sue Bradford, who is always pleasant, and the Hon Lianne Dalziel. However, a couple of Labour MPs were typically rude and unfriendly!

Just before lunch we were told that the Hon Maryan Street would make an announcement. I have to say she was very pleasant, too. She acknowledged her colleagues and Sue Bradford by their parties. She mentioned Mr Auchinvole and me, but she could not bring herself to say the dreaded word “National”. Anyway, she made an announcement about breaks and breastfeeding, and she announced the introduction of the Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill. As Ms Wilkinson said, we will support the bill’s referral to the select committee so the committee can have a good look at it. It is interesting that this legislation was announced at Blackball, where Chris Trotter said the Labour Party did not belong because it was formed about 13 years after the Blackball incident.

I became very interested in the issue of meal breaks, given the lecture that had been given before lunch by an excellent Dunedin historian and by Chief Judge Graeme Colgan of the Employment Court. I think it is worth recounting what happened and what gave rise to the Blackball strike, which, of course, has culminated in this legislation today.

Chris Auchinvole: What did happen?

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: Well, there was a fellow called Pat Hickey. As the name suggests he was a good Irishman. He was born, I think, on the outskirts of Nelson in the Waimea Plains, and he went overseas and joined the Wobblies. I am sure that the member for Christchurch Central would not know what a Wobbly was, but those of us who are interested in industrial history do know these things—it was an American union. Pat came back to New Zealand and he had been radicalised.

After spending some time in Denniston, he decided—I think everyone in Denniston decided, as well—that it would be in the interests of all concerned if he went off to Blackball. That is what he did, and he was employed in one of the mines in Blackball. It seems that the manager of one of the mines was a Mr Leach, and I have to say that he did not sound to me to be a particularly pleasant man. One day he stood over Mr Hickey and demanded that Mr Hickey get back to work. Pat said he wanted to finish his pie, and the said Mr Leach stood over him—it could have been with a stopwatch or a watch—and ordered him back to work, saying that his 15-minute crib-time was over. That gave rise to the strike, because Pat thought he was entitled to proper crib-time. So it was a very antagonistic setting. I think I said to Mr Auchinvole on that day that if I had been Pat Hickey and had been spoken to like that by Mr Leach, Mr Leach would have received my pie in a certain part of his face.

It seems, however, that an important fact had been overlooked. The unions had had 30 minutes’ crib-time made available to them as a result of negotiations with the company but had voluntarily given up that crib-time and reduced it to 15 minutes because they wanted to get out of the mines 15 minutes earlier—and who can blame them? So it seems that notwithstanding my immediate sympathy for Pat Hickey, the unionists got the wrong end of the stick. The strike occurred because poor old Pat Hickey got his facts wrong, and it seems to me that that often happens with trade unionists. So those were the facts--

Sue Moroney: No, no.

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: —and if the member had been there—[Interruption] Oh, was the member there? Then she should have been listening. Judge Colgan was asked what he would have done if he had been the judge dealing with those matters on the basis of the facts as were shown to be the case, and he said he would have applied the law accordingly.

So they are important facts, and it is worth saying that this matter, which so excited the Labour MPs and Mr Auchinvole and me that we went to Blackball on Easter Sunday, concerns a strike that proceeded on the basis of an error of fact. It is important to recount this interesting history for the benefit of the House. I certainly found it interesting.

I was interested in the Minister’s announcement, and I hope the select committee has a good look at the legislation, because it raises some important issues. I am particularly interested in the purpose clause, which talks about time being provided to employees for rest breaks and meal breaks. It seems to me that it is very much a classic case of Labour saying one thing and doing another. Last Thursday in Auckland, for example, members of the Justice and Electoral Committee were suffering under the chairmanship of Lynne Pillay, who, perhaps, is Labour’s answer to Mr Leach. We went for 8 hours without a break, notwithstanding my numerous requests for crib-time. Pat Hickey got 15 minutes of crib-time, but how much time did we get? We got nothing. Lynne Pillay is a tough customer. I just hope that the Justice and Electoral Committee will take a good look at crib-time for members of Parliament when Lynne Pillay is chair of that select committee. Jokes aside, this legislation raises important issues. I was delighted to be at Blackball to hear the announcement, and I will be delighted to see the progress of the bill in the coming weeks.