E tū member and Wellington City Council candidate, Nureddin Abdurahman
Many E tū members are getting active now in the local government elections to take place in October this year.
Nureddin Abdurahman is one of a number of E tū members running for a position and in the next magazine we will have a full rundown for you.
Nurieddin is in the Paekawakawa Southern Ward in Wellington and he is encouraging all E tū members to get out and vote, wherever in the country they are.
“It’s all about democracy, with communities choosing who will make the hard decisions on our behalf,” Nureddin says.
“From the moment you wake up and turn on the tap, to when you leave the house whether you are using active, public, or private transport, to when you come home and turn on the lights – these are all things that rely on councils keeping the infrastructure working.”
“You need to make sure you trust the people making those decisions, so you need to vote. I’m running in this election simply because I want to make life easier for everyone in our communities.”
In local government elections you get to decide who makes important decisions in your local area, whether that’s the mayors, city councillors, regional councillors, or local boards. Decisions made at this level are often the most important decisions for working people, our families, and our communities. From housing to stadiums, footpaths to streetlights, libraries to parks, drinking water to rubbish collection – councils make it all happen.
Local representatives also make decisions about the wages of directly employed workers, as well as the contracting and procurement decisions that cover anyone doing work for a council. This is one of the main reasons E tū gets active in the campaigns, winning the Living Wage for council workers across Aotearoa.
E tū members have often identified housing costs as one of the biggest issues that affects their lives. Local authorities have a huge role to play in this, whether it’s by directly providing social housing, supporting the infrastructure needed in new and existing neighbourhoods, or developing planning and zoning rules that allow our communities to grow and thrive.
