Labor Council secretary to resign

By Andrew Hall

WOLLONGONG -- The secretary of the South Coast Labour Council (SCLC), Paul Matters, is to resign his position of 12 years following an ongoing dispute over the leadership of South Coast unions. His resignation will take effect from the annual general meeting in March.

Unions that have disaffiliated from the SCLC, many of which have joined the recently formed Illawarra Council of Trade Unions (ICTU), are still calling for Matters to resign immediately and for a fresh election for secretary to be held on November 24.

Since May, when the dispute publicly blew up, the South Coast union movement has been divided over how to resolve the differences. Mediation talks were held and pressure was exerted from the NSW Labor Council and ACTU for fresh elections.

The ICTU was established by 13 of the breakaway unions, although only the National Tertiary Education Industry Union initially affiliated formally.

Matters' resignation came when many of these unions, including the CFMEU, AWU and AMWU, were about to formally affiliate to the ICTU, and the NSW Labor Council was near a vote on recognising the ICTU as the peak body on the South Coast.

The president of the SCLC, Mike Dwyer, said, “Matters has resigned for the greater good of the union movement on the South Coast. The way is now clear for those union executives who had disaffiliated because of alleged personal differences with Paul Matters to bring their unions back under the SCLC umbrella.”

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