August 14, 2005
Media Release

Working people pay tribute to Lange

David Lange will be remembered by working people as the man who stood up for them in the face of intense political pressure, says the country’s largest union.

The former Labour prime minister died in Auckland last night, aged 63.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union national secretary Andrew Little said that Mr Lange had the nation with him when he came to power in 1984 and began to overhaul the New Zealand economy, but that the pace and severity of that reform had extracted a terrible toll on working people.

“David Lange was the leader of a much-needed revolution, but he understood that it was causing unnecessary damage to working New Zealanders and had the presence of mind to call for a more human pace of reform, and to take decisive action to achieve it,” he said.

“It was an action that cost him the prime ministership, but earned him a place in the hearts of working people.”

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