Across the last decade, E tū members have taken action, celebrated wins, and stood together in thousands of moments that tell the story of our union. These photos capture just a few highlights from our first ten years, showing the strength, pride, and solidarity that continue to shape who we are today.
We launched E tū on 6 October 2015, at the Wharewaka Function Centre in Wellington. The mood was electric – workers from across our industries were joined by allies and community leaders to start our union with energy and purpose.
Kristine Bartlett celebrates the landmark 2017 pay equity victory that lifted wages for tens of thousands of care and support workers. Her courage helped spark one of the most significant gains for working women in Aotearoa’s history. With the current Government stripping away our pay equity rights, the victory is an important reminder of what we can achieve when we stand strong.
E tū has celebrated many Living Wage victories. A key milestone was winning the Living Wage for parliamentary cleaners, celebrated here in the Labour caucus room in 2017. We went on to win the Living Wage across all public service contractors, many councils, and winning the Living Wage in bargaining across the private sector.
While we have moved on from the height of the Covid pandemic, we will never forget the vital role E tū members played in keeping the country going. As essential workers through lockdowns, as health workers on the frontline of keeping our communities safe, and as advocates pushing for strong public health measures and fair protections at work, our members stood up when Aotearoa needed them most.
Our strong political activism and connections have meant E tū members have had huge influence across politics, right up to the House of Parliament. It’s a two-way street – we campaign for political parties that put workers at the forefront, and we hold them to their commitments when they are in power.
None of this would be possible without our strong, diverse, member-led internal democracy. It was clear at our first E tū Conference in 2016 that our staunch membership was perfectly positioned to take us From our National Executive, Industry Councils, and committees, to the delegate structures in every workplace, our democratic foundations are what give our union strength and direction.