Maori unionists meet Mr Hicks

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 27

Maori unionists meet Mr Hicks

PA Wellington Maori trade union representatives have met the President of the Public Service Association, Mr Colin Hicks, in the second round of a twoweek campaign to change P.S.A. staff hiring methods. Members of Wellington’s Te Runanga o Nga Kaimahi (Maori Trade Union) met Mr Hicks in a corridor of P.S.A. House before he started interviews with applicants for three new staff positions. The runanga representatives reiterated points made to Mr Hicks on October 6 by the Auckland runanga in a four-

hour meeting that led to the postponement of the interviews. Both runanga want two of the three field officer jobs filled by Maoris and they want Maoris to select the successful candidates. The Auckland runanga, supported by Wellington, has objected to a P.S.A. executive decision to use Maori advisers in choosing the staff. The runanga object to using Maoris as just advisers to an all-Pakeha selection panel choosing staff for jobs advertised with a stated preference for applicants with a knowledge of Maori language and culture.

After the Auckland discussion, the interviews were postponed to allow further consideration by the P.S.A. A Wellington runanga member, Ms Kiri PotakaDewes, said the Auckland runanga had alerted their Wellington counterparts to the interviews. She said she and other representatives of the runanga had asked Mr Hicks if they could talk to the selection panel for 10 minutes before interviews started. She said Mr Hicks had told the group, which also included a member of the Wellington Pakeha AntiRacist Coalition, that he

■ had spent enough time discussing the matter with the Auckland runanga. He had suggested the runanga did not fully represent Maoris in the P.S.A., and had said he could not change the rules that were set by the association’s national executive, Ms PotakaDewes said. The association’s annual conference in August had supported the formation of runanga and greater participation for Maoris in the P.S.A., she said. Mr Hicks said later he did not believe the commitments made at the conference conflicted with what the executive was doing now. “The rules or procedures for their having a greater say are not yet in place,” he said. Moves to change the situation were likely to

start at a meeting next week. The runanga had no recognition from other trade unions that he knew of. He said the P.S.A. had to change to meet the demands of Maori members, but the adjustment was painful in such a large organisation. “Sometimes it is not made easy by people who want us to go much faster than we are able to,” he said. Mr Hicks said the interviews had been transferred from Auckland to Wellington for administrative reasons. They were usually held in Wellington, he said. One Maori adviser had travelled from Auckland to help at the interviews but the adviser could not be given a vote because there was no provision for it in the association’s constitution.