Media Release: National Distribution Union
Wednesday August 26 2009

Minister of Labour may have misled the House

The National Distribution Union (NDU) says that the Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson may have misled the House this afternoon by putting her non-attendance at an existing union engagement down to a “clash of commitments.”

The NDU has today released a phone message from a staff member in Ms Wilkinson’s office, which makes it clear her reasons for not coming to the NDU executive meeting were political in nature.

“The advice from Kate Wilkinson’s office that the “risk is too high” for her to come is clearly not the same reason as a ‘clash of commitments’, as was offered by Wayne Mapp in Parliament this afternoon in her absence,” NDU National Secretary Robert Reid said.

“The Minister of Labour’s grounds for not coming to the meeting are concerning, and we reiterate our call earlier today for clarity from the Prime Minister as to whether this response sets a precedent.”

“It is entirely inappropriate to avoid meeting any group of workers whatsoever, simply because another group of workers are talking industrial action.”

Ms Wilkinson spent the day in Auckland today and was due to meet the NDU executive, only pulling out of the meeting yesterday. Ms Wilkinson’s latest refusal follows several unsuccessful attempts by the NDU executive to meet with her, Robert Reid said.

Click here to listen to the audio: http://thendu.podomatic.com/entry/2009-08-25T22_18_27-07_00, or download the mp3 file to your computer here: http://thendu.podomatic.com/enclosure/2009-08-25T22_18_27-07_00.mp3

ENDS

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