Ross Wilson Photo: Supplied
His life's work has been all about collective action - so it is no surprise long-time union leader and pioneering health and safety campaigner Ross Wilson regards his New Year's Honour as "a recognition of the work of unions".
Wilson (Ngāi Tahu), former president of the Council of Trade Unions, who has also served on a number of boards, including the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and WorkSafe, is being made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the trade union movement and workplace safety.
"I feel a bit awkward about it, because my work has been an integral part of the work of the trade union movement for more than 40 years, so I'm kind of a bit inseparable from the work of unions," Wilson said.
"I see it as a recognition of the work of unions, rather than an individual."
It was while working as a lawyer in the 1970s he found himself drawn into the union movement.
"I was doing quite a lot of personal injury work on behalf of injured railway workers and post office workers and others, and I felt that I'd like to actually get to the source of the problem rather than dealing with the very distressing casualties of the system in those days - with shunters losing limbs and lives.
"That motivated me strongly to go and work for one of the unions that happened to be my client at the time, the National Union of Railway Workers."
From the 1970s, he led union campaigns for an improved ACC, and was ACC deputy chair from 1986 to 1991 and chair from 2007 to 2009.
Between 1999 and 2007, he was president of the Council of Trade Unions.
He was also the founding chair of Unions Aotearoa International Development Trust (UnionAID), and served as chief technical adviser for the International Labour Organisation in Myanmar in 2012/2013.
As deputy chair and chair of WorkSafe, he played a key role in bringing together government, business, union and iwi to support new legislation and regulatory frameworks to improve workers' safety and health.
Earlier this year, he helped establish Iti Kōpara - Public Governance Aotearoa, an independent charitable trust providing professional training for current and future Crown entity board members.
"I've had the privilege of being able to articulate and pursue and hopefully in some areas advance some matters I feel very passionate about - health and safety, accident entitlements for injured workers, collective bargaining rights for workers to improve their pay and conditions.
"Those values I hold very dear, and at times it's been a struggle for everybody, so an individual is unlikely to achieve much."
