The 2006 CAFCA AGM was held at the Christchurch WEA on September 12. 15 members were present ( which is one of the smallest attendances in recent years). Bill Rosenberg chaired. Apologies were accepted from Reg Duder, Trish Murray, Mary Ellen O’Connor, Kane O’Connell, Tony Suddaby, Warren Thomson, Yani Johanson, John Peet, Denis O’Connor and Brian Stephen. The 2005 Minutes were read by the Secretary, Murray Horton, and accepted.

The 2005/06 audited accounts were presented by Liz Griffiths, the bookkeeper (these had been distributed with Watchdog 112, August 2006). She explained that income (both subscriptions and donations) was a bit higher than the previous year and expenses had not increased, so that CAFCA is in good financial shape. Murray asked her to clarify that there is not actually a “loss” of $4,000 between the income and expenditure, but that the “shortfall” is actually the result of money being transferred between term deposits. There is no “loss”, quite the opposite.

The meeting accepted the accounts and thanked Liz Griffiths for her essential work as bookkeeper, and Bruce Finnerty for his work as the honorary auditor. In turn, Liz thanked Murray for his financial record keeping and banking work which enables her to do the bookkeeping – he is the treasurer in all but name.

Bob Leonard reported on the CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account, which pays Murray Horton. In the 2005/06 year, the Account received $7,835 in donations, which was down on the previous year. But donations now account for only 29% of the Account’s annual income (as opposed to 34% the previous year). Regular pledgers now comprise 70% of annual income (66% the previous year), which is the factor which makes all the difference to the very healthy situation of the Account.

There were 50 pledgers as of September 2006 (same as last year – two stopped but were replaced by two new ones). Income from pledges was $18,793 – the average monthly pledge per person is about $33 (as opposed to just under $30 the previous year). The Account made a “profit” of $4,359, so the meeting instructed Bob to report to both CAFCA and ABC whether it can afford a further pay increase for Murray (who was then on $11 per hour). This has since been increased to $12.50 per hour. Ed.

The meeting passed a vote of thanks for Bob Leonard, who has been in charge of the Organiser Account for more than a decade.

Election of officers. Murray Horton was re-elected as Secretary. The committee was re-elected unopposed - Bill Rosenberg, John Ring, Reg Duder, Joe Hendren, Jeremy Agar and Lynda Boyd (the latter two are new members who joined the committee in 2006). Liz Griffiths is bookkeeper; Bruce Finnerty the honorary auditor.

Murray Horton presented his annual Organiser’s Report.

General Business. Bill Rosenberg spoke of his wish to wind back the amount of work and time that he spends on writing up the monthly Decisions of the Overseas Investment Office, pointing out that he has been doing it continuously since 1989. He has not yet decided what form any new look might take. Brian Turner, from the floor, suggested that CAFCA investigate whether we can get students to do basic research for us and how we would go about doing that.

At the conclusion of business, Lynda Boyd (a committee member) spoke in her capacity as the (temporary) Auckland organiser of the Unite union’s McDonald’s campaign, which is to unionise that workforce and secure better pay and conditions for them. She introduced the Unite short film “SuperSizeMyPay.com”, which is a work in progress on the campaign of industrial action against all major fast food corporations in Auckland ( an article by Lynda Boyd on the SuperSizeMyPay.com campaign appears elsewhere in this issue. Ed.).