Building solidarity at the flax-roots: standing committees for women, Maori and Pacific Island members inside the Wellington Hotel and Hospital Workers’ Union, 1979–1989

Abstract

The Wellington Hotel and Hospital Workers’ Union successfully increased its membership participation and membership solidarity during the 1980s. It did this by implementing a union newspaper, delegate structure, delegate education, stopwork meetings and standing committees for women, Maori and Pacific Island members. We know that women’s structures increased female participation and leadership in trade unions, bringing about a partial ‘gender revolution’ by the end of the twentieth century. Drawing on a framework of union power resources, this article shows that despite some initial resistance implementing separate structures for Maori and Pacific Island members, as well as women, further increased Maori, Pasifika and women’s participation and leadership in the union, and led to increased union activism on social issues.