How does Te Tiriti relate to organisations like TEU?.

With our new Te Tiriti based rules now passed by annual conference over a fortnight ago, Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union has fielded a small number of questions from members who ask "what does Te Tiriti o Waitangi have to do with our union?"

The latest in our Te Tiriti video series may provide further understanding to those who have questions such as this. In it, Kaumātua Hōne Sadler and TEU member Dr Heather Came discuss exactly that – "How does Te Tiriti relate to organisations like TEU?"

Matua Hōne describes Te Tiriti as "a roadmap. We need a roadmap to keep us clear on what our duty is, and how we can ensure that those who are vulnerable, and I mean everyone who is vulnerable, I think Te Tiriti encompasses all those diversities, and it gives us a roadmap on how to awhi, how to look after, to care for people, and to move into the future."

For Dr Came, as Tangata Tiriti, "Te Tiriti is the terms and conditions by which my ancestors came to this country. Why would that stop when I’m at work and being a union member? It doesn’t stop. Yes Te Tiriti is between hapū and the crown, and a union is not a crown agency, it doesn’t mean we can’t embrace the learnings and the opportunities of that relationship and that covenant."