Tribute to Rod Donald at Memorial Service Parliament

I am deeply honoured to speak as President of the Council of Trade Unions as we remember Rod and celebrate the huge contribution he made to our society and to our lives.

Rod's sudden death was a real shock for us at the CTU, and we were deeply saddened by it. Rod had attended our Biennial Conference only 10 days or so earlier and was in his usual good spirits and apparent good health.

I now feel I missed an opportunity to thank him for his work. I didn't do so because he was there to support Sue Bradford, who had been invited to address our conference, and of course we all expected Rod to be around for many years to come.

So I appreciate this opportunity to tell his family, his colleagues and his friends how much we, in the union movement, valued our relationship with Rod, and appreciated his tireless work in our joint causes.

Principled, passionate, tireless, relentlessly positive, and good natured are all words which come to mind when I think of Rod.

I got to know Rod well over the six years since I was elected CTU President. Rod was a key influence in bringing the Green Party and the union movement closer together and I have enjoyed working with him on many issues over that period.

His working life is a testimony to his commitment to the values and principles he so strongly believed in.

For the CTU one of his key achievements was as the National Spokesperson for the Electoral Reform Coalition. With his usual passion and energy he clearly articulated the case for proportional representation and played a key role in the introduction of the MMP system; and with it the diversity, interest, and more representative politics we now enjoy.

In that role he worked closely with the CTU, and union activists and leaders, including the former PSA General Secretary Colin Clark.

So thanks Rod for that important contribution to making Parliament more representative and democratic. We certainly appreciated that reform after the excesses of the 1980s and 90s.

And MMP not only resulted in smaller parties like the Green Party being represented in Parliament; it has also sometimes enabled them to play a key role in the parliamentary process.

The Green Party under Rod's Co-leadership certainly did that in respect of the many important measures the CTU has actively supported and promoted during the past six years.

The CTU co-operation and joint advocacy with the Green Party began early in the life of the Labour - Alliance Government with the re-establishment of ACC as a national public fund scheme, the Employment Relations Bill in 2000, the International Treaties Bill, the Anti-Terrorism Bill, Paid Parental leave and minimum wage legislation, the workplace health and safety legislation, and many others.

And it continued during the second term with crucial Green support for the new Holidays Act, and the 2004 amendments to the Employment Relations Act. Those measures would not have been passed without that support, and we will not forget that.

Rod, thank you for that very direct contribution to the legislative gains which have been made for the 300,000 working people and their families the CTU represents, and the many others who have benefited as well.

So the Green Party under Rod's co-leadership has had a strong focus on fairness at work and social justice issues. It has been a party with which we shared a common approach to many issues, both domestic and international.

Many of the current generation of union leaders, like Rod, were involved in the "movement politics" which grew out of the 1960's and 70's ---- the peace movement, the anti-nuclear movement, the environmental movement, the anti-apartheid movement.

Rod actively supported union campaigns, including the Rail & Maritime Union's "Take Back the Track" campaign and the recent health sector campaigns.

And of course we regularly discussed and co-operated on many other issues. Kyoto, human rights and trade were among those. Rod's limitless energy and innovative campaigning ensured a high profile and public interest in many of the human rights issues we shared a concern for; labour rights in China, entrenched forced labour in Burma, and the recent tour de force with Henry Olonga against the Mugabe regime abuses in Zimbabwe.

Rod had moved on from movement politics to party politics. He had played a crucial role in leading his party into the real world of party politics; the hotbed of principle, rhetoric, and compromise which is MMP. He clearly loved politics and had become a very skilled politician.

We shared Rod's disappointment that the Greens were not able to become a more integral part of the new Government, and despaired at the short sightedness and prejudice of the political and business interests who blocked him. But an enduring memory is the dignity with which he masked that disappointment and engendered a genuine respect, even among those who conspired to block him from Cabinet.

And within a few days he had applied his positive spirit to the challenges which were within his grasp. With Rod's appointment as the Government spokesperson on Buy New Zealand Made we were looking forward to working and campaigning with him.

We share his concerns about the negative impacts of globalization and our open economy, and saw this Government / Green initiative as an opportunity to highlight the issues and develop support for an economic and social development strategy which has a sustainable high value high skill and high wage manufacturing sector at its heart.

And I share Jeanette's public commitment to ensure that Rod's work continues. The CTU continues to have shared objectives with the Green Party and of course we also have excellent working relationships with the leadership and at other levels.

Finally, on behalf of the CTU can I express my deep sympathy to Nicola, Holly, Emma and Zoe. Nicola, I really admired your courage and strength in speaking publicly about Rod. It was very moving. And I almost laughed out loud at the Cathedral service when you spoke of how irritating Rod could be at times. That relentless spirit could try ones patience at times, particularly when it came at the end of a cellphone at any time of the day or night. But it was tempered by the overwhelming goodwill and passion which came with it, and we also loved him for it. A larger than life character we will never forget.