How and why do our rules need to change?.

In the second instalment of Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union’s video series sharing members’ perspectives on our rules review, Te Awatea Ward and Laura Quinn discuss why rules matter and why they need to work for everyone, not just the majority.

Te Awatea Ward, Co-branch President, Massey University branch of TEU, Ngāti Pāhauwera says "times have changed."

"Our rules were created to suit the time and space that they were created. We’ve moved on, so the rules also need to change to better reflect where we are now and where we’re heading into the future. The rules don’t reflect the commitment of TEU to Te Tiriti or incorporate a Māori voice, or the voice of Tangata Whenua. They need to change to add that so we’re better prepared to move forward."

For Laura Quinn, Co-branch President at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa branch of TEU, Tangata Tiriti, the rules of an organisation dictate the organisation’s culture. Because "policies and procedures and behaviours grow from those rules so if there’s a particular rule that is favouring a certain group of people then the difference between those people becomes bigger."

"If we look at it the other way, if those new rules are directed mainly at people who haven’t been represented before, people who deserve their voices to be amplified, people such as the disabled, women, Māori and Pasifika, and other people who are not treated equitably within even our union, then we need to change those rules so everything else that flows from there is corrected."