Unionist finally accepts plaudits

By Eugene Bingham

WELLINGTON - Trade unionist Ken Douglas has been a reluctant bride.
He revealed yesterday that he had turned down previous offers of a place on the honours list.

But the retiring president of the Council of Trade Unions has finally accepted, and this morning takes up membership of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), the country's highest honour.

The 63-year-old said he had never felt it appropriate to accept recognition while he still held office.

"And besides, my Irish ancestry would have trouble with me accepting that sort of thing," he said in his Porirua home.

But the advent of the New Zealand honours, and particularly the ONZ of which fellow leading unionists Sonja Davies and the late Jim Knox have been members, helped make up his mind.

Mr Douglas is welcomed into the order in recognition of his contribution to the movement, and as an acknowledgement of his international standing.

The golf-mad father of four has held union offices since 1959, including nine years as Federation of Labour secretary.

As a former member of the Communist Party and founding member of the Socialist Unity Party, he has not always been looked upon with approval by the state.

And although he does not miss the irony of being recognised by a National-led Government which has done much to undermine unions, Mr Douglas does not think it fair to paint him and the Government as enemies.

"The more you have a political difference, and the more you express it in calm, logical and respectful tones, the more you will be understood. That is a lesson that was hard for me to learn.

"Take [the late Prime Minister] Rob Muldoon. He always did me the respect of knowing what I was there to talk to him about and he respected the position that I held."

Mr Douglas, who has steered unions through the advent of the Employment Contracts Act, said it was sad to see the position that unions were in today, and called for a change of attitude.

"Unions have to be in the forefront of the argument about labour and the economy. They are not entitled to say, `That is the problem of the Government'."