[4] He was also blamed by many for not leading a general strike against the Employment Contracts Act 1991, which gutted the power of the trade union movement.

He said that the decision to join came from the 1960 New Zealand rugby union tour of South Africa for which Māori players were banned from playing.

However, Russel Hunter, a general manager of NZ Freighters, said of Douglas as a union representative, "regardless of his political interests... he talked you about the case that was on the table... and got the best for his people".

Prime Minister Robert Muldoon regularly railed against what he saw as the dangerous influence of communists and trade unions, and there were public marches against these groups.

[6][8] In 1980 Muldoon expelled the Soviet ambassador to New Zealand for allegedly providing funds to the Socialist Unity Party.

[4] In an interview in the 2000s, Douglas said of Muldoon, "while he had this public persona of being antagonistic, whenever we met he was very polite and he gave me the respect my position as secretary of the Federation of Labour deserved.

"[4] Because of his political beliefs, Douglas's wife and children received abusive phone calls and death threats.

According to Douglas, the Young Nats set up a group to phone his house every half hour every weekend to abuse whoever answered.

He was the president of the Titahi Bay Golf Club, and champion golfer Michael Campbell described Douglas as a mentor.

[6][13] Acting Prime Minister Grant Robertson paid tribute to Douglas, saying that "he never wavered from his support of working people and commitment to their rights and successes".

Acting Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Priyanca Radhakrishnan said many advancements in worker rights could be traced back to Douglas' leadership.