23 May, 2012
Media statement: For immediate release

Role of Iwi Forever Changed by AFFCO

The comprehensive agreement ending the ten week lock-out of Horotiu workers is a stunning example of how the growing economic and political power of a determined and united Iwi leadership can produce compromise out of chaos, said Tukoroirangi Morgan.

“History has been made here and role of Iwi in the modern industrial society has been forever changed,” said a clearly elated Tukoroirangi Morgan.

“In many ways, these negotiations resembled some of our hardest treaty negotiations, which began in a similar environment of mistrust and positions that were poles apart.

“The job Iwi leaders faced was to get both sides around the table and talking and moving towards compromise and, ultimately, agreement.

“The truth is that the two parties at the centre of this dispute were locked in a bitter struggle with our people caught in the middle. There was no common ground, mistrust and resentment prevailed,”

Mr Morgan, Ngaai Tahu’s Mark Solomon, Whanganui’s Ken Mair, Ngaa Puhi’s Sonny Tau and Ngaati Kahungungu’s Ngahiwi Tomoana were in the front line of Iwi leaders who were able to bring Talleys, AFFCO management and the union together to break the deadlock.

“I feel tremendous satisfaction that the skills honed with Lady Raiha and in Parliament have been able to be put to use in the service my tribe. The commitment shown by the front line of Iwi leaders such as Ken Mair, Mark Solomon and Sonny Tau has been humbling.

“My objective in getting involved was to help get those workers back into their jobs anend the tremendous hardships being inflicted. It couldn’t be allowed to continue: the workers were in pain, their families were hurting and Ngaaruawaahia businesses were suffering.

“Iwi exist to protect and advance the rights and interests of Maaori. While I may no longer be Chair of Te Arataura, I will always be Waikato-Tainui.

“This has been a fantastically rewarding and emotional experience and I cannot speak highly enough of the commitment shown by everyone to end this deadlock – Ken Mair, union delegate Waata Muru, Meatworkers President Mike Nahu, CTU President Helen Kelley, Peter and Andrew Talley – they all deserve particular congratulations.

“This is a historic agreement and shows how Iwi can exercise their mana and power to bring about positive outcomes that benefit all New Zealanders.

The agreement reached has the support of family patriarch Peter Talley, AFFCO, the Meatworkers Union and the CTU.

“I would like to acknowledge the open and transparent manner in which both Andrew and Peter Talley approached the negotiations. It cannot be over-stressed that their desire to reach an agreement was key to providing Iwi with a presence in the negotiations.

“My involvement began on Saturday 5 May with a phone call I made to Peter Talley expressing concern at the apparent gulf between the two parties.”

“I then met with Andrew Talley in Wellington on the following Monday, where he gave me a commitment that he would support the Iwi Leaders Forum joining the process as a ‘circuit breaker’.

“The view of Iwi leaders was that Iwi must stand up and be counted, given the preponderance of Maaori in, not just the meat industry, but the dairy industry, ports, fishing and forestry.

“It was actually through fisheries, another Talley family business, that I originally developed a relationship with the family: Both Waikato-Tainui and Ngaai Tahu have had a long association with the family through their holding of our respective fishing quota.

ENDS

© Scoop Media