Ethnic origin is a key reason a union employee has been suspended for standing for the ACT party, ACT leader Rodney Hide said today.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union and 10th-ranked ACT list candidate Shawn Tan were meeting today over his decision to stand for the right-wing libertarian party at the general election.
Mr Tan said after the meeting that there had been no outcome today and another meeting would be held on Thursday.
The union had said it suspended Mr Tan because he failed to get approval from the union's executive to stand as a candidate.
Under the union's rules, there was a requirement to do so.
Mr Hide, who went to the EPMU's Auckland regional office this afternoon to offer support to Mr Tan, said Mr Tan would not be going through what he was if he "wasn't a Chinese or Asian".
He believed the EPMU had made "a prejudiced decision that, because he was Asian, because he was Chinese, he would do the meek and mild thing".
"Well, Shawn Tan actually knows about standing up for himself and the ACT party supports every New Zealander for their rights," he told journalists.
"The idea that you can pick someone off like this, and actually pick them off because you think they are Chinese and will just go quietly and won't stand up for themselves - I tell you, that is not the New Zealand we support."
Mr Hide said Mr Tan had not discussed the issue of ethnicity with him.
However, Mr Hide believed the views he was alleging the EPMU held remained prevalent in New Zealand.
"There are still New Zealanders who make decisions on the basis of superficial things like race and colour, and that is something I would have expected the EPMU to feel strongly about," he said.
"Clearly they don't."
EPMU national secretary Andrew Little told NZPA the union was dealing with the "reasonably serious" employment issue and would not comment until it was resolved.
He said he had heard of Mr Hide's allegations surrounding Mr Tan's ethnicity and said the union would respond "in due course".
EPMU has obligations to Mr Tan under the law and would uphold those, Mr Little said.
He was unsure when Mr Tan's employment issue would be resolved and said Mr Hide's comments to the media would not help the process.
Mr Tan, who works as an organiser in the union's call centre, said the past two weeks had been difficult ones for him.
He had had to endure vilification from people who disagreed with what he was doing.
But he said he had also had support from family, friends and ACT party members.
After today's meeting Mr Tan said it was "not a very pleasant process" and he hoped it could be finalised on Thursday.
Mr Tan said he wanted to keep his job and believed as a trained lawyer he was able to do his job for the union and stand as a candidate for a right wing party without conflicts of interest.
He said if the EPMU did not follow proper process and dismissed him, legal action would be taken.
Mr Tan said it was possible race was an issue, but it was difficult to prove in court.
