Leadership rivals mark Labour Day

Labour leadership candidate David Parker will be holding his own event at the Savage Memorial on Bastion Point this morning to mark Labour Day. Photo / Getty Images

Labour leadership candidate David Parker will be holding his own event at the Savage Memorial on Bastion Point this morning to mark Labour Day but he will be avoiding talk about the "working classes".

Across town in Onehunga, two other leadership contenders, Grant Robertson and Nanaia Mahuta, will be joining unionists and other Labour members in Onehunga to pay tribute to former unionists and to former Prime Minister David Lange.

Mr Parker said he would be meeting informally with Labour Party members but the public would be welcome too.

He said he would talk about the direction in which he would take the party if elected leader this month.

"We've got to go back to focusing on the interests of working men and women which, of course, is why [we] were founded in the first place.

"The interests of working men and women have changed a bit."

Asked if by working people, he meant working class people, he said: "I don't particularly like that class-based language."

"I want to have a slightly more aspirational, optimistic outlook and include all of the people who used to be employees who are now effectively self-employed, tied contractors who work for one employer, a courier driver or even a cleaner these days.

"We need to be there for their interests."

He said he wanted to have a conversation reflecting on the party's 98-year history and discuss the relevance and direction of the party for the next 100 years.

The memorial to Labour's first Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage, was "the perfect venue to share our values and fly a kite".

The other event at Waikaraka Cemetery in Onehunga at 11am is an annual tribute to the union martyr Frederick George Evans, who was killed in the Waihi mining strike in 1912, and tribute will also be paid at the grave of unionist Bill Andersen and to Mr Lange.

Mr Robertson said Labour Day was an important day and had resonance with the Employment Relations Amendment Bill going through Parliament which undermined collective bargaining.

"It shows that all these years on there are still huge challenges for fairness at work."

Andrew Little will not be at either event. However he said he would be in Auckland having informal meetings.