U.K. Woman To Study N.Z. Trade Unions

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31116, 20 July 1966, Page 2

U.K. Woman To Study N.Z. Trade Unions

(From

TUI THOMAS,

Womens Editor of "The Press.

One of the 13 women recently selected in Britain’s first list of 66 Churchill fellows is a district trade union officer. She is Mrs Stella Berkeley, of Leeds, who chose New Zealand for her study of the organisation and achievements of trade unions. Her itinerary will include Christchurch.

“I want to find out how New Zealand trade unions have achieved such high standards for their members and how a small country can afford to provide the social services it does,” she said in London, last week. “I feel that we, in Britain, can learn a lot from New Zealand.”

Mrs Berkeley, who has a law degree from London University, is a field officer in the Yorkshire district for the National and Local Government Officers’ Association.

“I shall be particularly interested, though not exclusively, in unions which draw their membership from similar fields as my own union—local government and public services,” she said. “1 want to attend branch meetings, ‘sit in’ on negotiations and conferences, attend hearings of arbitration courts and meet officers of the Federaion of Labour.”

The only woman district officer in the association which covers about 30.000 workers, Mrs Berkeley advises members on their rights on salary and conditions of service, such as leave and superannuation. She has to appear before employing authorities to make submissions on be-! half of employees. She has; done the job for nearly 15! years.

■ There was no political influence in the association and lit had never had a strike, she said.

“It would not even affiliate with the Trade Union Congress until 1964 because many members thought it might tie the association to the Labour Party. But, of course, this is not so,” she said. « INITIATIVE Mrs Berkeley chose trade union work as a career because she felt it was important to Britain’s developing pattern and because the job called for initiative. But she is no "aggressive-battler." A woman who laughs easily and enjoys life, she spends most of her off-duty time walking and hill climbing. She is married to Mr Humfrey Berkeley, a member of a Himalayan expedition some years ago. They both belong to the Fell and Rock Climbing Club of England and the Lakes District. Mrs Berkeley is also a member of the Soroptimist Club of Leeds. Her massive pack will be part of her luggage to New Zealand. “It is amazing how much I can get into it and I can carry it more easily than any suitcase,” Mrs Berkeley said.