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.