STRONGER TOGETHER

Helen Kelly is in some circles remembered as the political leader the New Zealand left never had. In 2015, the longtime union activist was considering a run for Parliament in 2017 after deciding against it the previous two elections. Her plans were derailed when she was diagnosed with lung cancer; she died in October 2016 at the age of 52.

Kelly literally grew up inside the labour movement. Her parents were committed activists at a time when union membership was compulsory and unions themselves were powerful players in political life. Her father, Pat, a Wellington Driver’s Union organiser, participated in successful campaigns for sick leave and tea breaks. Her mother, Cath, was heavily involved in the Public Service Association’s campaign for equal pay for women — a massive, far-reaching victory achieved in 1960. Kelly got her first taste of organising before she even left school: When she got a paper round, Pat encouraged her to make sure official codes regarding pay and bag weights for juniors were being followed for delivery boys and girls.

In her early 40s, Kelly became the first woman president of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU), the organisation which represents hundreds of thousands of workers from 27 affiliated unions. But the movement she led was a shadow of its former self. Membership had plummeted after reforms and deregulation in the early 1990s. By 2010, as the National government implemented economic austerity measures to counter the global financial crisis, protections for workers were stripped back even further. Kelly also experienced an enormous personal backlash from the government and public for protesting the so-called “Hobbit law” — legislation lobbied for spat, she took on what would become perhaps the most significant campaign of her career.