I am well pleased that I took the opportunity afforded by Ian's pre-death convalescence to record his life experiences, particularly his decades-long and active involvement with the New Zealand railway union movement and the wider worker movement generally. There will be an element of political and industrial commentary in these words, simply because this was the Ian Wilkie I knew, who I shared struggles and blues with, with whom I often argued into the wee hours until both of could agree on a policy or a strategy or a response.

He could be difficult to move from a determined position but had an ear for common sense, some times. The political commentary reflects how Ian maintained his loyalty to his workmates and the membership, hard and determined, not seeking favours - and that was the face that often delivered the beneficial outcomes for his workmates when all else was failing. It made him only a few friends on both sides of the employer-worker divide, a price he consciously understood and was prepared to live with.

Before the guns of World War 2 had even thought about stopping, on the 6th of August 1942 Ian Wilkie was born, for better or worse, a few miles east of Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, in a town called Coatbridge - once known as the "Iron Burgh" because of its many ironworks. Ian's mother was a Congregationalist and had ambitions to be a nursing sister missionary in Africa. His father earned his wage by working down the claypit mines and constructing fireplaces.

In Ian's words he was "brought up as a bigot", predominantly by the influence of his father, the impact of surrounding and vicious Protestant-Catholic divisions, and the accompanying political aggro of Labour versus Tories. As Ian described it, "the whole poisonous atmosphere was compounded and supported by priests and ministers of the separate factions reinforcing and preaching hate".

Never a great fan of academia, Ian nevertheless attended Greenhill School Primary, at about which time their beloved mum Ruby died in circumstances which he still doesn't understand. Ian was just three years old and Isobel only an 18-month bairn. As if that wasn't tough enough on the young children, at age seven Ian found that a new 'mother' was moving in. Dad had remarried.

The stepmother was a night nurse at a mental hospital. Ian made several caustic references to the way he viewed his treatment from who he termed "your classic story-time bad stepmother". He recalls how his father used to lock the toilet paper away and provide them with newspaper, and not to read either. He did add that one minor advantage was that Pop was asthmatic and Ian could always run pretty fast.

Went To Sea

After an abortive attempt with a job as a "runner" on the Railways, at 16 years old Ian made the fateful choice to sign up with the merchant navy, which commenced with the required ten-week hard slog at Vindicatrix. The sailing ship Vindicatrix was moored in the Old Arm at Sharpness from 1939 to 1966 and provided a base for training boys as deck hands and stewards for the merchant navy. He was taught ropework, boat handling, signalling, knowledge of using the compass, oiling and greasing, cleaning, scraping and painting.

Unsurprisingly, discipline was very strict. One of the most important rules was that there was to be no fighting. To be caught fighting meant instant dismissal. If caught, the option they were given was to be sent home or, bizarrely, get into the boxing ring to sort it out in front of the other lads. There is no question that their short stay on board rapidly turned them into young men. There was little choice.

Ian started off as a deck boy on the Glasgow to Londonderry ferries, a crossing reputedly as rough as Cook Strait. The ship carried passengers on upper decks and cattle below decks. After some seven or eight months of that he'd had enough and, pulling what would become a well-worn note from his back pocket, Ian told them to "Stick it up their..." - let's use a euphemism - "...where the Sun don't shine".

Initially with the Ben Boats or the Ben Line Group, going to sea was the biggest eye-opener and teacher Ian was likely to experience. He sailed all around the Continent and the East from Hong Kong, to Singapore and Thailand, months on a trip in an icebreaker taking newsprint from Canada to Florida. He did three and a half voyages to England and back on the New Zealand Shipping Company's (NZSC) passenger vessel Rangitane.

"I applied for a job with the New Zealand Shipping Company who in turn told me that they would be pleased to offer me a berth on the Cornwall, which was part of the NZSC-run Federal Line. It was a mixed general cargo and freezer ship. I really enjoyed my New Zealand experiences, the most delightful of which was of course meeting up with my future wife. With the unspectacular relationship with my father and stepmother, I could see no future for me in the United Kingdom at my age, so 'slung my hook' in favour of the Kiwis down-under".

Throughout his time at sea Ian was a member of the National Union of Seamen (NUS). Loyal to his fellows and staunch to their decision-making he didn't have a lot of time for some of the union hierarchy though, some of the paid staff. Not that he had a general snitcher on full-time union organisers, just these ones in particular. He mentions only one extreme example that he says typified how he viewed them and how some of them operated.

When all the British seamen had been on strike for a time (in the 1960s), he thinks supporting action for their "moderate wage demands", and things were getting financially a bit tough, the word leaked out that "... the National Secretary of the NUS had bought a nice new car for his daughter. It was her birthday after all, and the union's funds were probably more accessible than the official's own bank account. The dirty piece of shite...". Ian stuck with the union for all that, it was the principles underpinning the organisation and its collective strength that kept him involved.

While it has a far more romantic flavour, Ian didn't in fact "jump ship" to stay with Roz his New Zealand "intended", although his all-abiding attraction to her certainly contributed. He was "unavoidably delayed" rejoining his ship in Wellington by the delightful time he was having with his new love. The ship left without him.

Aware of the seriousness in which this was viewed, he finally called into the shipping company office, and asked for his plane ticket in order to pick the vessel up in Auckland, it's next port of call. The agent didn't agree with the cost that flying there involved and advised Ian he would be going north by rail on the overnight express. With the confidence of youth and the power of fresh young love coursing through his veins, Ian resorted to his fallback when he'd had enough "It's okay for the bosses to fly everywhere but not us crew. Stick it ... where the Sun don't shine!" and walked out.

Moved To NZ, Worked 39 Years On Railways

He managed to avoid immediate repercussions and toured the country pile-driving on drilling rigs for some year and a half. He ended up working at All Tranz freight forwarders in Christchurch. It was here that his recent past, and the Police, caught up with him and resolved his "breach of contract" issue with the New Zealand Shipping Company.

They bundled him off to Bluff to pick up the vessel Manapouri going to Old Blighty on its maiden voyage and Ian's compulsory departure. By the time the vessel and Ian were due to dock in the UK, back in New Zealand a fresh-born son Andrew was being welcomed into the world. The untiring and patient Roz was staying with her brother Bob Taylor, then and later a shunter in the Christchurch railway yards.

In May of 1968 Roz and Ian had married. Their eldest Andrew was born 8 November 1968. They were delighted, if a supposedly a little surprised at the timing, that their first child was born "three months premature" (or so they said)! Debra-Lee was born in September 1969 and wee Blair in July 1971. Ian and Roz lived in their Momorangi Crescent, Redwood, home for an extraordinary 53 years, before moving to Langdons Road in Papanui.

Ian's union involvement started while working as a shunter in the Christchurch and Middleton shunting yards. The job entailed continuous rolling shifts of three shifts a day six and a half days a week. The shifts alternated weekly, 24 hours a day coverage and it was outside-work, regardless of the weather. When this shift demand was combined with Ian's frequent union commitments out of Christchurch, there were undoubtedly pressures and worries placed on Roz and the children, who were left guarding the home fires. Ian's industrial commitments had a price to pay and he later acknowledged that he often struggled to reconcile this family price and the time with Roz and the children.

When Ian had first joined Railways there were nearly 20,000 employees; when he left, and after Richard "The Traitor" Prebble had "saved rail" his way, there were maybe 5,000 workers remaining, probably some 100 branch lines, workshops and associated services closed, contracted out or sold out. Addington Railway Workshops in Christchurch had consistently trained, to a very high standard, up to 150 assorted apprentice tradesmen at any one time.

The workers that Ian represented inherited the resulting curse of asset sales to crony political mates like Fay Richwhite and Telecom, with Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson to follow with their trickle-down lies and the New Right principles, unemployment, low wages and foreign capital welcomed with open arms.

Decades As Front-Line Unionist

Ian had 39 years as a shunter, guard and team leader in his paid railway roles. In his elected and voluntary roles, he was actively involved throughout the New Zealand rail network for over three decades of his working life. He participated and represented members' interests in such organisational-seekers of systemic change as the Shunters Council, the Guards Club, the enormously successful Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club of which he was Chair, and was the South Island Traffic Councillor on the national body of the National Union of Railwaymen for many years. Ian represented rail workers at forums of both the NZ Federation of Labour, and subsequent to the consolidation with the Combined State Unions - the NZ Council of Trade Unions conferences.

After the national amalgamation with the other three railway unions (Locomotive Engineers Association, Railway Tradesmen's Association and the Railway Officers Institute) and the Harbour Workers Union, they formed the New Zealand-wide and respected Rail & Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) which has membership coverage in all ports and the New Zealand railway network. Albeit a little reluctant initially, the largest of the railway industrial organisations, the National Union of Railway Workers (founded in 1886), came to the amalgamation party also.

Ian was elected Chairperson of the Canterbury Branch of the Rail & Maritime Transport Union and was also the National Vice President of the Rail & Maritime Transport Union until his retirement. Ian served with distinction with both organisations in a near four-decade period, both regionally and nationally. He was deservedly awarded a rare Life Membership of the Rail & Maritime Transport Union having, as outlined in the Rules, "...rendered conspicuous service to the Union..." and its membership.

Even today, after decades of political attack and legislative retribution, the union that represents the New Zealand railway industry and port workers, astoundingly commands over 90% voluntary membership among eligible workers and staff. Part of the rationale for that includes not just the long history and delivery of benefit but the character and commitment of rank-and-filers like Ian.

Ian was one of those blokes that the employer needed to be confronted with, at the right time and in the right circumstances. The word "staunch" was invented for just such as him. His principles had been hard-earned and learned; and he stuck with them despite the pressures and unholy compromises that often form part of negotiated settlements of claims and disputes. While he would acknowledge his general inflexibility, at times this was just the thing the employer needed to see, to assess the strength of member support behind key and critical claims and know that there would be no easy ride or easy settlement unless basic principles were met.

One of his most useful lines that he reserved for particularly arrogant and testing managers, particularly those who felt more powerful than their position entitled them, was that he would now "talk to the shovel, not the shit." That is, continue the debate but higher up the chain of command. Similar lines that were not so caustic include "meat not the maggot" and "the butcher not the block".

One particular set of Tranz Rail (now Kiwirail) Collective Employment Agreement negotiations were held in the once-was boardroom of NZ Railways. After our negotiators' strategy meeting the night before our opening session, I was talking with Wilk and Jimmy Kelly, the National President, about a clip I had just listened to of their Glaswegian compatriot Billy Connolly and his short skit satirising "union demands".

In a heavy Glaswegian accent: "We want this! And that! We demand a share in that, and most of that, some of this, and f**king all of that! Less of that, and more of this, and f**king plenty of this! And another thing, we want it now! I want it yesterday, I want f**king more tomorrow, and the demands will all be changed then so f**king stay awake!" Managerial jaw-drop was a collective first reaction from the other side of the table.

While I acknowledge that the many positive results and terms of settlement were extraordinary collective outcomes derived from the efforts and industrial skills of many committed men and women, I believe Ian's contributions to their successes should be noted so that those who have had little industrial or union involvement can see achievements that men and women like Ian fought for, over at least the last four decades, and against quite hefty political, legislative and industrial odds. There were a multitude of other delegates, as there were a further multitude of other successes.

The establishment, with agreed terms of reference, of workplace Industrial Councils where each industrial grouping from throughout New Zealand had elected representation, were paid and released from work and could argue unresolved workplace issues and health & safety concerns directly with senior managers.

Deaths On The Job; Fundamental Safety Change

In around 1996, following a horrendous period of at-work fatalities, particularly among shunting yard workers, Canterbury rail workers (under the guidance of such as Ian) took a leadership role in formally commemorating the first Workers Memorial Day ceremony in New Zealand at a rock cairn by the old Christchurch Railway station (the building did not survive the 2010-11 Christchurch earthquakes but the memorial is still there. Ed.). A commemoration that not only continues to this day but is now enacted throughout each district/region in New Zealand and involves all industries and workers.

Anger at the ongoing railway workplace fatalities (three shunters killed in the space of three months, five rail workers dead in 12 months) led to an unusually productive Ministerial Inquiry into rail worker safety. The results were comprehensive, completely changed the method then applicable of "loose" or "kick" shunting and was the source of fundamental change within the industry and a re-regulated legislative safety framework by 2005. 21 names of fatally injured rail workers, solely from the Canterbury region, had been read out as being killed in the then previous 30 years. Since then, zero fatalities on rail, nationwide.

While still working as an employee, Ian had his regular involvement with national and local negotiations, workers' wages and conditions were a constant source of employer debate and worker representation. And at times, in order to progress the seriousness of the claims, he gave member leadership during industrial disputes, and with maintaining unity and solidarity among the membership

"Tier 2 conditions" after the cursed Employment Contracts Act (ECA) - reinstituting conditions that the union and its "grandfathered" members had successfully fought to retain. The employer's objective was to draw a line under current employees (i.e., "grandfathering") and place new employees on lesser terms and conditions until such time and employee churn in staff numbers saw no more grandfathered employees left on the job and all, by default, on a wide range of lesser terms and conditions.

As Ian described it, "...it was like trying to put the hen-house back together after it had been kicked to shit". A classic example was the retention of overtime payments for additional hours worked, the now-old-fashioned concepts of time-and-a-half rates and double-time benefits. Few other workers in New Zealand were left with these conditions intact after the ECA had bitten hard. The rates are still applicable in rail industrywide today.

It took probably eight or nine years after the Employment Contracts Act but dogged attention to the strategy finally saw the demise of "Tier 2 employees" as a concept and basic wages and terms and conditions of employment were equalised for all employees right across the board and across New Zealand in the rail industry.

Life Member

Ian was regularly called on to provide measured support and advocacy for members facing disciplinary action (threats of dismissal or punishment) for alleged workplace misdemeanours. His retirement from his railway work, later in 2007, also saw the end of his elected and voluntary roles with the Rail & Maritime Transport Union, but certainly not his commitment.

He had been overwhelmingly voted by the National Council as that distinguished thing - a Life Member of the Union. Coincidentally, his Life Membership badge and certificate were awarded to him by the then RMTU National President Jim Kelly, who had also been born and raised near Glasgow in Scotland. They had a wee bit of a deserved reputation, those ship-jumping, trouble-making, don't-put-up-with-nonsense Scots' laddies.

Not long after retirement, he joined Grey Power, where he hoped to convince them into using their sheer weight of numbers and economic clout to bargain collectively at a political level and to create advantageous deals with retailers and manufacturers that benefited Grey Power members and other retirees. Well, these best and lofty intentions saw poor Wilk with only one brave pensioner ally.

The rest of his fellow Committee comprised of those retired folk who were more committed to organising the next social and dance evening than the next social revolution. Despite his doctor advising Roz and Ian in September 2022 that his days were numbered and he would likely be "away by Christmas" Ian's departure was delayed until March 2023, when he was good and ready.

IAN WILKIE

- Murray Horton