Who: Laila Harre
What: Former MP and National Distribution Union secretary
Where: National Distribution Union office in Onehunga
Why: She's trying to save jobs
Asking Laila Harre questions is like shooting bullets into water. The impact's reined in before the ripple of thoughts expand and encompass every aspect of any subject.
There is no such thing as quick-fire responses then, and time is short. Harre's a busy woman but she still can't stop the waves of social diagnosis from escaping that infamous lisp.
``You shouldn't ask me questions that require analysis,' she says. ``I have never been simple-minded.'
Laila Harre is far from simplistic. She is a well-known leftie and femin ist, former Cabinet Minister under the Alliance and backbench MP during the days Labour fled its socialist ideals under Roger Douglas' free-market policies.
She is presently the National Distribution Union national secretary.
We have 45 minutes at the union office in Onehunga before another meeting and we're interrupted several times by her phone. She's never flustered and her ideology never wavers.
``I was taught to believe in the fundamental value and fundamental equality of all human beings and general respect for cultural diversity. I always felt angry when I saw what I perceived to be injustice,' she says.
Between the ages of 6 and 9, Laila lived in Fiji while her social anthropologist father studied the effect of urbanisation. At 13, she walked out of class with a Maori friend who was discriminated against by a teacher.
At 15, Laila thought the Springbok rugby tour was a deliberate effort by the government to divide New Zealanders. ``People,' she says, ``were encouraged by the government to put rugby before justice.'
The then-feisty teen faced off against the baton-wielding and infamous police Red Squad.
``It was terrifying getting trapped in one of the entrances to Eden Park and the batons came out. I was separated from my mother. We were both screaming for each other across the crowd as the coppers' batons were flying. It was scary.'
Once it became clear the batons would be present on every march, Laila skipped the bloodied frontline but not the protest ... She's never left the political fray.
``For an adolescent girl, fear of a nuclear war was a real daily anxiety. The French were still testing bombs in the Pacific, the Korean peninsular was on permanent edge of war and our government was in cahoots with the Americans and Australians as part of that nuclear establishment -creating what it seemed to me to be enormous risk.'
In 1989, at only 23, Laila left Labour over disillusionment with Rogernomics, joined New Labour and helped form the Alliance Party.
Now in her early 40s, the mother- of-two has focused her fighting skills a little closer to home at a time when many of us fear for our livelihoods.
``It's been disturbingly busy. So much of what we have been doing is cleaning up the mess left by the inter national financial sector and the mis-management of New Zealand's economy over the last 20 or 30 years.
``We are spending far too much time nursing workers through the redundancy process when we should be nurturing workers into improved pay and conditions.'
Laila's office is wrapped tightly around a small table. The decor is personal but not considered.
The walls are adorned with pictures of several monsters drawn by her son three years ago when he was 11. There is a cartoon picture of herself holding a placard for women's lib.
A framed picture of former National Distribution Union president Bill Andersen sitting next to a bust of Lenin more than hints at her political leanings.
``I hate to see extreme wealth and I hate to see poverty. Unfortunately, the two are the opposite sides of the same coin. You can't get rid of poverty unless you tackle extreme wealth.
In her quest for equality, Laila is disturbed by some businesses hurriedly axing employees to save on ``excess profits' during the recession.
Debate was encouraged in Laila's family and disagreement was strenuous. It sits well for a champion of workers' rights.
She does not gesticulate or thump out a point but her words are deliberate and carry a determined emphasis.
``At a time when there's going to be unavoidable increases in unemployment, I think it is immoral for the Government or large companies adding to the dole queues with avoidable unemployment.
``There should be a shared responsibility to maintain jobs over the next few years and I have not seen a lot of that happening.'
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