Westfield 1942

I Āperira 1942, ka meatia e Te Waka Karaitiana “I tera marama ka tu he tautohetohe i waenganui i nga kaimahi o nga whare mahi miiti o Akarana, me o ratou rangatira. Ka hui nga kaimahi, ka whakatau to ratou motini, e kore ratou e hoki ano ki te mahi kia whakaaetia ra ano a ratou tono e nga rangatira [1].”   Nō te Mīhana Perehipitiriana tēnei niupepa, e anga ana ki ngā kai-kōrero reo Māori o ngā takiwā taiwhenua, ā, he rerekē tēnei momo kōrero mō te raruraru ahumahi.  I kī atu a Te Waka ki āna kai-pānui, he whakahirahira rawa atu te umanga mīti mō ngā mahi pakanga, arā, hei whāngai i ngā hōia, i ngā tāngata o Ingarangi hoki, ā, ka taea e te kāwanatanga te whiu te hunga “kei te awhina . . . i o tatou hoariri i ta ratou peratanga” [2].  Engari, I inoia e ngā kaimahi Māori kia kapea rātou i te mahi uniana nei. Nā konei i mea mai ai te kaituhi, “Kati ka nui te whakamanamana o te whakaaro mo te korenga o nga kai mahi Maori o reira i whakaae ki taua mahi a o ratou hoa Pakeha. . . . Kapai tenei hei whakakite i to tatou piri pono ki te karauna o Ingarangi, me to tatou ngakau nui ki te whawhai i te hoariri [3].”

Nā, he aha tēnei tautohetohe ahumahi, ā, i pēhea te whakapā mai ki te iwi Māori?

I te tau 1936, ka whakaturea e te kāwangatanga, me uru ngā kaimahi ki roto i ngā uniana, engari, ko ngā kaimahi anake he whakaaetanga ā-kōti (industrial award) tō tā rātou momo mahi [5]. Kīhai tēnei ture i tino whakapā mai ki te iwi Māori, nā te mea, i noho taiwhenua te nuinga [6].  Heoi, i ngā tāngata Māori e haere mai ana ki ngā tāone mahi ai, e whakahaua ana rānei ki te uru ki ngā mahi nunui, ka tokomaha haere ngā mema Māori i roto i ngā uniana.  Ko ngā wheketere patu kararehe tētahi mahi i kaha uru ai ngā tāngata Māori.  He rerekē tō rātou ropū (ko te Freezing Workers’ Union) ki te nuinga o ngā uniana; kīhai i tino taukotona ngā whakaaetanga e whakatauria ana e ngā kōti ahumahi, ka pīrangitia kētia kia whakaritea ā rātou whakaaetanga e rātou ko ngā kaitukumahi, tētahi ki tētahi [7].

Ko te hua o te pakanga, ka nguengue haere ngā tautohetohe ahumahi [8]; engari ko ngā wheketere mīti ki Westfield, i te taha raki o Ōtāhuhu, i te tapa rāwhiti o te pūaha o Mānuka (Manukau), i puta mai ai ētahi raruraru i te tau 1941 [9].  I te marama o Hānuere o te tau e whai ana, ka tū he tautohetohe anō, i āia ai te kāwanatanga kia hāmenetia ngā kaipatu hipi e 63 mō te porotū (arā, whakamutu mahi).  I whākina e rātou tō rātou hē, otirā, kāore he whiu mehemea ka pai ā rātou whanonga mō te tau e whai ana [10].

He kino kē te raruraru i maea mai i te 12 o Māehe, i āraia ai ngā āpiha uniana e ngā rangatira o te wheketere o Hellaby kia ākina ngā wāhine e kēne mīti ana kia uru ki roto i tō rātou rōpū.  Ka toro atu te porotū nei ki te kamupene e noho tata ana, ki te Westfield Freezing Company, ā, (mō te wā poto) ki ētahi atu kamupene hoki [11].  Nui atu i te 2,000 ngā kaimahi i whakamutu i ā rātou mahi. Ko te whiu; 102 ngā tāne i whakakāhoretia ai tō rātou whakawāteatanga ki te uru ki roto i te ope taua, ā, e 289 ngā tāngata i whakawākia kia mahi ā-tinana i roto i te whare herehere [12].  Tokomaha ngā waranatia (arā, kaitūao), he kaimahi pāmu te nuinga, i tae mai ki ngā wheketere kia haere tonu ai ngā mahi patu kararehe [13].  I muri i ētahi tapape, ka mutu te tautohetohe nei i te mutunga o te marama, ā, ka tukuna mai ngā tāngata i hereherea kia hoki mai ki te mahi. [14].

I waenganui o te raruraru nei i rīpoatatia ai e ngā niupepa, kua tukuna he waea e Koi Tarawa, hei māngai mō ngā kaimahi Māori o Westfield, ki te Mema Māori o te Rūnanga o te Kāwanatanga, ki a Paraire Paikea, kia kapea ai ngā Māori katoa i ngā tautohetohe i waho i te ture tae atu ki te mutunga o te pakanga [15].  Ka whakahokia e Paikea, me waranatia tōtika ngā kaimahi Māori katoa ki te wheketere [16].  E kīa ana, 150-160 ngā Māori e mahi ana ki Westfield, engari, e ai ki te Auckland Star, ka tae atu ngā waranatia ki te mahi, “A few Maoris with permanent employment at the works reported for duty. [18]”  Kāore e mōhiotia ana, ka whiua he Māori mō te porotū, kāore rānei, engari ko te āhua nei, kīhai te kaupapa o te uniana i takahia e te nuinga o ngā kaimahi Māori.

E whakakitea ana i roto i ngā kōrero niupepa o taua wā, tokomaha ngā Māori e mahi ana ki Westfield.  I karanga mai a G. Graham o te Kotahitanga Māori o Ākarana kia hangaia he whare hou mō ngā kaimahi Māori, nā te mea, tokomaha ngā Māori e mahi ana ki Westfield, ki ngā māra hua-whenua hoki e tata ana ki Tāmaki-makau-rau [19].  I te pōtitanga o te tau 1943, e whitu ngā wāhi pōti i Ākarana mō te rōhe pōti o te Tai Tokerau, ko tētahi i te wheketere patu kararehe o Westfield [20].  I te pakanga e haere tonu ana, ka tae mai anō he Māori mai i ngā takiwā taiwhenua ki Westfield mahi ai.   Nā te kore whare, ka whakanoho te kāwanatanga i ngā tāne Māori takakau ki tētahi puni taua, ā, i ia rā i ia rā ka kawea mai rātou mā runga taraka ki te mahi [21].

Ka whakaarohia pea ka haere mai ngā Māori ki ngā tāone i muri i te wā whawhai, engari, nā te karanga a te kāwanatanga kia mahi ngā tāngata Māori i roto i ngā umanga whakahirahira, i te wā o te pakanga i tīmata ai te hekenga nui nei.  Nā konei, ka kaha haere te anga o te iwi Māori ki ngā tikanga ā-uniana.

[1] ‘Te piri pono o te Iwi Maori’, Te Waka Karaitiana, Āperira 1942, wh.37.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

 [4] Michael Barry & Pat Walsh, ‘State Intervention and Trade Unions in New Zealand’, Labor Studies Journal, 31, 4 (2007): 59, 60.

[5] Cybèle Locke, Workers in the Margins: Union Radicals in Post-War New Zealand (Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 2012): 18, 20, 21.

[6] Barry & Walsh, wh.61.

[7] The Press, 13 Hune 1942, wh.4.

[8] Northern Advocate, 10 Āperira 1941, wh.4, 6 Ākuhata 1941; Auckland Star, 8 July 1941, wh.8; Waihi Daily Telegraph, 14 Noema 1941, wh.2; Evening Post, 28 Noema 1941, wh.6.

[9] Evening Post, 29 Hānuera 1942, wh.8.

[10] New Zealand Herald, 26 Māehe 1942, wh.6.

[11] Auckland Star, 24 Māehe 1942, wh.8; Northern Advocate, 27 Māehe 1942, wh.4.

[12] Evening Star, 18 Māehe 1942, wh.6; Northern Advocate, 23 Māehe 1942, wh.2.

[13] New Zealand Herald, 30 Māehe 1942, wh.4.

[14] Evening Star, 18 Māehe 1942, wh.6.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Auckland Star, 18 Māehe 1942, wh.8.

[18] Auckland Star, 8 Pēpuere 1943, wh.4.

[19] Auckland Star, 22 Hepetema 1943, wh.4.

[20] New Zealand Herald, 29 Pēpuere 1944, wh.6.