Greens call for end to Brethren's union exemption

The Green Party has called for an end to the Exclusive Brethren's exemption from union access, saying the sect's political activism violates the main reason it was granted.

Green Party Industrial Relations Spokesperson Sue Bradford said the Exclusive Brethren's circulation of leaflets calling for a change in government showed they were actively involved in the world.

"When I rose in the House in August 2000 to support the exemption, I quoted from one of the Brethren's own publications which stressed their avowed separation from all groups and associations of a political, social or business nature," she said.

"The Brethren's subsequent political activism - and not just in New Zealand but in Sweden, Australia and the United States as well - has shown them to be a highly political organisation, actively engaged in changing the world.

"The initial exemption had given more weight to the apparently deeply held and scripturally based aversion of the Exclusive Brethren to unions, than it gave to the rights of their workers to organise."

Ms Bradford said many workers in Brethren companies and schools were not members of the sect and their rights needed to be taken into account.

"The Brethren cannot have their cake and eat it too. They cannot any longer claim an exemption based on their alleged detachment from the world."

- NZHERALD STAFF