We’re ready to Fight Back Together.

Hau Taki Haere | Tertiary Update Vol 29, No 6

By Steve McCabe, Te Whare Takiura o Manukau | Manukau Institute of Technology

There’s nothing quite like joining forces with your union comrades to remind you why we do what we do. The Maranga Aka | Fight Back Together campaign brings together members of countless organisations across the Council of Trade Unions to remind everyone of just how harmful, how toxic, how utterly dangerous this current coalition government is for the workers of Aotearoa.

The thousands of members who rallied in Aotea Square last year, in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau, came from myriad different trades and professions, but we all had one thing in common – a vision for Aotearoa that wants to prioritise workers over money, and that remembers that our employers would be nothing without the hard work that we do every day.

But our work isn’t done. Since then, the coalition have continued to whittle away at the protections that unions have fought for. Within the tertiary education sector, we’ve seen derisory pay offers, sometimes even taking some staff below the living wage. In the larger world, we’ve seen threats to healthy and safe workplaces, and the erosion of union rights in those workplaces.

And that’s why, as branch president at Te Whare Takiura o Manukau | Manukau Institute of Technology, I’m fired up to lead our members in this year’s May Day Maranga Ake hui. I know that our members deserve so much better than the meagre, grim vision of work that Erica Standford and Brooke van Velden want to offer us. And I know that our members, and members of unions across sectors and across the motu, believe that too.

So, I’m ready to get out to Manukau Plaza on May Day, and let the government, and the whole of Aotearoa, know that we’re ready to Fight Back Together. I’m looking forward to seeing you there too!

A full list of Maranga Ake times and venues all across Aotearoa can be found here.

Also in this update:

• A call for action: Supporting Māori rights in Aotearoa
• The government’s free speech bill is hypocritical
• Action Camp success
• Call for volunteers: Secure work and AI

Other stories

Reti Optimistic on Tertiary Budget Talks – Waatea News

The National Student Association You Haven’t Heard Of – Critic

StudyLink processing delays see students struggling to pay rent – RNZ

Auckland University law school merger uncertain after showdown meeting mysteriously cancelled – NZ Herald