I arrived in NZ in 1989 emigrating from Holland and quickly fell in love with the NZ way of live and I fell in love with a kiwi. More than 25 years later I’m still married to that same kiwi, and we have a son who is turning 16 on 23 September.
My work story really starts at Air NZ in 1996. I joined the union of Flight Attendants, became an active delegate and was elected as FARSA’s President in 2009.
That same year I started studying law. Not with the intention of becoming a lawyer, but it was the time of the global financial crisis and my members and their working conditions were under attack from the airlines. 100 crew were made redundant that year and as their president I felt responsible witnessing the devastating personal effects on people, of losing their jobs.
I was determined that I would learn and know about the law and use that knowledge in my union role, started studying part time and graduated with a law degree in 2014.
It has been extremely valuable to get an appreciation of law, how laws are made and the impact on for example the work we do in the unions. And it made me realise that you can work very hard at grassroots level to improve people’s working conditions and lives, but if legislation cuts across all that good work, you aren’t really improving much long term. (A current example is the Pay Equity and Equal Pay Bill being debated right now. Kristine Barlett and the unions fought for years to get a settlement, only to now have the government forcing through contentious legislation with a one vote majority. If they’re successful it will result in continuing discriminating against women in low paid wages).
I believe that you keep learning through your entire life and I have always worked hard, so I decided I wanted to use my experience, knowledge, and the skills I developed over the years, to make a real difference. I joined the Labour party, had the honour to be elected as the Rodney candidate, and here I am now finding myself juggling a very busy fulltime job as the Head of Aviation in E tū, with running a campaign.
An important driver for me is a Labour value as well as a union value. I learned about Manaakitanga while having the privilege to serve as a member of the board of E tū, New Zealand’s largest private sector with 54,000 members.
Manaakitanga, taking care of people, supporting each other. Helen Kelly used to say: “if people were just kinder to each other…”. When I repeat her words, and think of her, I reflect on the fact that society has become so much about individuals, how far up the ladder one can go… never mind about anyone else. Inequality just grows and grows, and the gap between those that have, and those that do not, just widens.
Of course there are always people who could have made different decisions, avoided certain situations, tried harder, do something different. But for every one of those, there are many that are in situations that they could not have foreseen, maybe had a bad start to life, or just encountered bumps in the road on the way.
In my union work particularly during my time at E tū, I have seen many people that cannot make ends meet no matter how many hours they put in. I’ve spoken to good people who through no fault of their own end up working all hours, sometimes on three split shifts, husband also on shift work, both on minimum wages and not able to provide for their family of 2 children. That’s not good for these kids and their family. About 65,000 people work multiple jobs, can’t make ends meet and we see the social harm. The stats on child poverty are appalling. And it’s disgraceful that in New Zealand, we have people sleeping rough in garages, in cars and under bridges.
It’s not the kiwi dream and not how we want families to live in New Zealand. It certainly is not the New Zealand I fell in love with 27 years ago.
I feel that it’s time that we as a country get our priorities right and at the moment, that does not include tax cuts.
This election is about priorities. We need to deal with inequality, the housing crisis and the under-funding in crucial areas like health, education, infrastructure. We need policies around fair taxation, regional development, cleaning up the waterways. And policies that invest in the next generation, they should have opportunities to be the best they can be. I get very passionate about Labour’s Working Futures and Ready for Work policies, three years fees free education, providing opportunities to unemployed young people doing work of public value, subsidising employers to take on young people for on the job training.
So there is a clear choice for voters. A choice between fairness and inclusion or increasing inequality and division.
I am proud to stand with Labour, the party that will look out for those in need and with the aspiration to give the next generation a fair go. I am proud to stand with Labour as the party committed to creating a fairer society.
Marja is number 32 on Labour’s list and if the party polls at about 32% she should be a list MP in the next Parliament.
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