‘Tātau Tātau, Altogether’: Ngā Kaimahi Māori me ngā Uniana i te wā pakanga (1)

Kāore te hītori o ngā kaimahi Māori me ngā Uniana o te wā pakanga e tino mōhiotia ana.  Ka whakaaturia, i roto i tēnei tuhinga, he kōrero mō Te Uniana o ngā Kaimahi o Aotearoa (NZWU—New Zealand Workers Union), mō ngā kaikutikuti hipi, me ngā mahi a Robert Tūtaki (Ngāti Kahungunu) ki te “hau kāinga” i te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao.

E rua ngā wāhanga o te kōrero nei.  Ko tēnei te hāwhe tuatahi e aro ana ki te pikinga mai o te NZWU me ngā mahi a Bob Tūtaki; kei te mea tuarua (e whai ana ākuanei) he titiro ki ngā mahi uniana, ki tā rātou tautoko i ngā mahi e pā ana ki te wā pakanga, me te tūranga o Tūtaki hei  kaiwhakahaere i ngā mahi whakature (manpowering) e pā ana ki te kutikuti hipi.

He tikiti te whakaahua nei i hoatu ki a J. Sweeney o Tākaka-ki-Runga; arā, he kāri mō ngā mema o te uniana, o te NZWU.  He mea tuku ki Cobb River i te 24 Hepetema, 1942, i waenganui pū o te wā pakanga. Ahakoa kāore tātou e mōhio ana ko wai a Sweeney, he aha tāna mahi, he Māori rānei, he Pākehā rānei ia, ka whakakitea e te kāri he āhuatanga nō te rōpū i uru ai ia. Tokorua ngā tāne, he Māori tētahi, he Pākehā tētahi, e harirū ana i mua i te rā e whiti mai ana, me ngā kupu ‘tatou tatou altogether’. I te taha mauī, i muri i te tangata Māori, he pāmu hipi, he teihana, me te tarakihana hoki,; he tohu ēnei nō te ahuwhenua. I te taha katau, i muri i te tangata Pākehā, ngā tohu o te ao hurihuri nei, he wheketere, he piriti nui hoki. E whakaatu ana te kāri, arā e ai ki te tangata nāna i tuhi, ngā āhua kē o te Māori me te Pākehā, o te taiwhenua me te tāone.

Engari, ka whakakakautia hoki te hiahia kia tūtaki ēnei ao e rua.  I puta mai te NZWU i ngā uniana kutikuti o te tīmatanga o te rua tekau o ngā rautau; i muri, ka whakahaeretia ngā kaimahi ahuwhenua, ahumahi hoki puta noa te motu.  He roa ngā mahi a te uniana nei kia pakaru ngā wehenga i waenganui o ngā iwi e rua.  Ā, i ara mai ngā kupu ‘tatau tatau altogether’ i te tuahangata o te ao kutikuti hipi, i te kaihāpai i te āhua tikanga-rua o te uniana, arā, i a Robert Pānapa Tūtaki. [1]

Kāore e kore, kāore he kaiārahi Māori i tua atu i a Tūtaki i roto i ngā uniana o taua wā, ā, nā āna mahi ka kitea ngā hononga i waenganui i āna mahi Māori, ina koa i roto i ngā mahi kutikuti, i āna mahi whakahaere kaimahi, me ngā mahi pakanga o Aotearoa nei. [2]

I muri i te tau 1945, ka nui haere te tokomaha o ngā tāngata Māori i roto i ngā uniana mō ngā tini mahi ā-ringa, arā, he kaipatu kararehe, he kaihanga pepa, he taraiwa taraka, he kaimahi ngahere hoki. [3] Engari, e kūware ana tātou ki te urunga o ngā Māori ki roto i ēnei momo mahi i mua i te tau 1945. Āe, i whakaturetia [manpowered] a Ngāi Māori ki roto i ētahi mahi whakahirahira i te wā pakanga, engari, kāore e tino mōhiotia ana tō rātou whakaurunga ki roto i ngā uniana o aua momo mahi.  Arā, ko tā te Māori mahi hei tētahi o ngā tino ango o te hītori o ngā kaimahi o Aotearoa. [4]  He ruarua ngā rauemi kei roto i ngā puna taonga me ngā whare pukapuka, ā, he āhua rangirua ngā kōrero. E matea ana he kaituhi hītori kia āta karia te māra nei.  Heoi, ki te whakaaro o ngā kaimahi Pākehā, o ngā rangatira hoki o ngā mahi hoki, ehara ngā kaimahi Māori i te tāngata uniana papai. Ko tō rātou whakaaro kē, ka tū pea te Māori hei whakararu i ngā porotū (taraiki). [5]

Bob Tūtaki, ngā kaikutikuti Māori, me te NZWU.

 I whānau mai a Tūtaki ki Heretaunga, ā, ka whai ia i tōna pāpā ki roto i te mahi kutikuti hipi.  Tae atu ki te tau 1908, kei te mōhiotia he mema uniana ia, e tohe ana kia whakanuitia ngā utu, e whawhai ana i ngā mahi ārai uniana a ngā rangatira. [6]  I akiaki a Tūtaki kia whakatūria te NZWU i te tau 1919.  E ai ki tāna, ‘Let us stand up with one common mind’; ‘stick together, everybody, remember that old Maori philosophy, “Tatau tatau”, meaning altogether’. [7] 

I uru hoki a Tūtaki ki roto i te mura o te tōrāngapū.  I te kaupapa Rātana e kake ake ana, ka whakahēngia e Tūtaki, nā te mea, ki tōna whakaaro, he kaupapa patu uniana tā taua rōpū.  Nō te tau 1928, ka whakataetae ia hei tangata Reipa i te pōtitanga Tai Rāwhiti, i tauwhawhai ai rāua ko Āpirana Ngata.  I mahi tahi hoki rāua ko te tumuaki o te Rōpū Reipa, ko Harry Holland, i ngā kaupapa e pā ana ki te ao Māori. [8]  I te wā rawakore o ngā tekau tau 1920, 1930, ka tū a Tūtaki hei kaiārahi, hei māngai hoki o te uniana, ā, ko ia te māngai Māori anake i tae atu ki te hui tuatahi o te Kotahitanga o ngā Kaimahi (Federation of Labour) i te tau 1937.

Tae atu ki ngā tau tōmuri o 1930, i te taha kutikuti hipi anake ngā kaiārahi Māori o te NZWU.  Engari, i muri, i ngā tau tōmua o 1940, ka kitea te nui haere o ngā Māori i roto i aua tūranga.  Heoi, nā te pakanga ka ahu ngā tini Pākehā ki tāwāhi, ā, ka whiwhi ngā tāngata Māori i ngā mahi ā-kāwanatanga, pērā me te pāpuni hiko o Karapiro, i raro i te maru o te NZWU. [10] I te whakatō rākau hoki ngā wāhine Māori (hei tiaki i ngā tāhuahua o ngā one) ā, ka kuhu hoki rātou ki roto i te NZWU. [11]  I te hui ā-tau o te NZWU o 1937, ka whakaaetia te mōtini ‘to place on record its appreciation of the services rendered to the New Zealand Workers Union by Māori membership over a long period of years’. I haere tonu:

Ever since the first Shearers Union was formed in New Zealand the Maori people both in lean and good years, have given their whole-hearted support. Further, this conference pledges itself to do all in its power to co-operate with the Labour Government in improving the working and living conditions of the Maori race. [12]

Ka pūrongotia hoki i te hui nei, e rima rau ngā wāhine o te uniana nei, tata ki te katoa he Māori. [13]   

Ahakoa i rite ētahi raruraru o te kaimahi Māori ki ō te Pākehā, ka tonoa kia whakamāoritia ngā pukapuka o te uniana, ā, kia kaha atu te aro mai o te NZWU ki ngā take Māori.  Tērā tētahi raruraru i tino pā mai ki ngā kaikutikuti Māori, arā, ko te āhua o ngā mahi me ngā whare noho.

He rite tonu te amuamu mai i ngā tau 1920. Engari, i te tau 1941 ka mea mai a Tūtaki ki te hui ā-tau o te NZWU, i te rere tonu mai ngā whakahē a ngā kaikutikuti ki te te uniana mō ngā whare noho. [14]  I kī mai te hekeretari mātua o te uniana, i te Tai Rāwhiti me te Hāku Pei, ‘some employers seem to think that anything is good enough for the Māori workers, and it is the plain duty of this union to see that the Māori workers get accommodation equal in every way to that provided for Pākehā workers’. [15]

[Hei tērā kōrero te roanga.]

Whakaahua: New Zealand Workers’ Union Membership Ticket, Alexander Turnbull Library, Eph-A-LABOUR-Davies-1942-01.

[1] John E. Martin, Tatau tatau, one big union altogether: the shearers and the early years of the New Zealand Workers’ Union, Wellington, 1987, wh.58.

[2] Tom Murray, Kerry Taylor, Joe Tepania & Nora Rameka, ‘Towards a History of Maori and Trade Unions’, i roto i John E. Martin & Kerry Taylor (ētita) Culture and the Labour Movement, Palmerston North, 1991, wh.50;

[3] Hei tauira: Cybèle Locke, Workers in the Margin: Union Radicals in Post-War New Zealand, Wellington, 2012; Ross Webb, ‘“Your Livelihood is on the Line”: Freezing Workers in Aotearoa/New Zealand, 1973-1994’ (MA Thesis, University of Auckland, 2015).

 [4] Murray mā, ‘Towards a History of Maori and Trade Unions’, wh.50.

 [5] Murray mā, ‘Towards a History of Maori and Trade Unions’, wh.57.

 [6] E. G. Schwimmer 'Shearing in Hawkes Bay'. Te Ao Hou No 19 (Ākuhata 1957), wh.12—15.

[7] Martin, Tatau tatau, wh.58.

[8]Peter Franks, ‘Predominance of support for moderate policy: The formation of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, 1937’, i roto i Franks and Nolan, Unions in Common Cause, wh.89.

[9]John E. Martin. 'Tutaki, Robert Panapa', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, tāia tuatahitia i te tau 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3t46/tutaki-robert-panapa (accessed 10 January 2026)

[10] Murray mā, ‘Towards a History of Maori and Trade Unions’, wh.54.

[11] Murray mā, ‘Towards a History of Maori and Trade Unions’, wh.54.

[12] ‘Maori working class and trade unions – research, notes, drafts and speech notes, Roth, Herbert Otto, 1917-1994: Collected papers, personal papers, photography and ephemera, 94-106-72/18, ATL, Wellington.

[13] Murray mā, ‘Towards a History of Maori and Trade Unions’, wh.54.

[14] ‘Report of the 25^th Annual Conference of the N.Z. Workers’ Union, New Zealand Workers’ Union: Records, 88-203-1/01b, ATL, Wellington.

[15] Murray mā, ‘Towards a History of Maori and Trade Unions’, wh.54.