Obituary: Frederick George Anderson

ONZM, socialist, unionist, Labour stalwart. Died aged 74.

Fred Anderson emigrated to New Zealand as a "£10 Pom" on an assisted passage from the New Zealand Government in 1953.

His subsequent political career saw him awarded life memberships of the Labour Party and the Engineers Union, a man of conviction who served both bodies with distinction and loyalty. They say he was active in about 16 election campaigns for Labour, especially around his beloved Manurewa.

A long-time friend and local body council colleague, Alan Johnson of Manurewa, described him as a man who knew what he believed in.

"He most likely will be remembered as a highly principled and dedicated man who sought nothing for himself and the very best for working people," he said.

Rex Jones, once Labour Party president and national secretary of the Engineers Union, described the loves of Mr Anderson's life as his family, unions, the Manurewa community and the Labour Party.

Mr Anderson's funeral in Manurewa was attended by four Labour Party presidents, cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, local body people and many from the local community. Sir Roger Douglas, the Labour Finance Minister who so greatly upset the Labour movement in the 1980s with his economic policies, was there too.

Fred was not known for sticking his head above the parapet to let off abusive public volleys, as other more firebrand unionists were inclined.

But in 1980 the young Roger Douglas, MP for Manurewa, was forced to resign from the shadow cabinet and policy council by the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Rowling, after issuing an alternative budget without consulting his leader.

Not long after, word leaked out that Fred Anderson, president of Labour's Auckland regional council, had verbally resigned as chairman of the Manurewa electorate committee rather than voting for its motion in support of Mr Douglas.

Fred himself would not discuss it publicly. But it was some indication of his style that eight years later he was still with the party, elevated then from junior to its senior vice-president, even though the left of the party saw the defeat of their candidate for president, Jim Anderton.

It enabled the party's left to still dominate its national council, despite the turmoil within warring factions of the Lange Government.

As Alan Johnson described it, Fred Anderson "led not from the front, or the rear, but from within the ranks of the people he was proud to be one of".

Born in Greatham, a village in the north of England near Hartlepool, he did a fitter-turner-machinist apprenticeship at an ironworks in the town. Naturally he was in the union.

He went to sea as a fourth engineer, aged 20. In his first political protest he was sacked and suspended for six months from sailing after he refused to crew a ship taking arms to French troops in Vietnam (assisting a colonial power to oppress indigenous people, as he saw it).

But he was back in the maritime industry after his arrival in New Zealand and met his future wife, Lyn, while working on the inter-island ferry Rangatira.

Fred Anderson is survived by his daughter Julie and son Wayne and three grandchildren. Two brothers and a sister still live in England, as does his mother Sarah, now aged 96.