April 4, 2008
Media Release

Electoral Commission ruling is a victory for free speech - EPMU

The Electoral Commission’s decision to confirm the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union’s third party status under the Electoral Finance Act is a victory for free speech says the EPMU.

The decision rejects National Party activist David Farrar’s complaint that the EPMU is not a separate entity from the Labour party.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the decision is consistent with the objects of the act.

“This complaint was a thinly-veiled attempt by a well-known National Party activist to suppress the views of the EPMU’s fifty thousand members and the fact that it was overturned shows the new electoral finance law is working as it should.

“We know the National Party is not keen for workers’ voices to be heard as the EPMU has a long history of effective campaigning against their anti-worker policies, most recently when we led the fight against their plan to strip all work rights from people in the first 90 days of a new job.

“Now this decision has been made we will continue to campaign for policies that are in the interests of our members and all working New Zealanders just as we have during every election.”

The EPMU is New Zealand’s largest private sector union and represents fifty thousand workers across eleven industries.

ENDS

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