Helen Kelly, friend and leader to New Zealand workers

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand mourns the death of union leader Helen Kel­ly, aged 52.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Nation­al Sec­re­tary Joe Fleet­wood says Helen Kel­ly was a great friend to mar­itime work­ers and all New Zealand work­ers.

“Helen led from the front and took on tough chal­lenges. Her strength and per­sis­tence were inspi­ra­tional.”

Helen Kel­ly had sup­port­ed mar­itime work­ers strong­ly in var­i­ous indus­tri­al strug­gles in her time as Pres­i­dent of the New Zealand Coun­cil of Trade Unions.

Even after her retire­ment from that posi­tion after her diag­no­sis with can­cer, she had con­tin­ued to work for the bet­ter­ment of her fel­low New Zealan­ders, sup­port­ing many caus­es includ­ing the med­i­c­i­nal use of cannabis.

Mr Fleet­wood says the death of Helen Kel­ly at a young age was very sad but she had packed in sev­er­al life­times of achieve­ment.

Her advo­ca­cy for work­place health and safe­ty, and secure jobs, was a great tes­ta­ment to a out­stand­ing work­ing class leader, he says.

Vale Helen.