New Zealanders throughout the country will come together for the National Remembrance Service on Friday 29 March from 10am.
“A binding thread throughout the union movement is the notion that an injury to one is an injury to all. What happened in Christchurch on March 15th devastated our Muslim community and it broke the collective heart of our nation. The terrible injury which has been inflicted on our Muslim whānau is an injury to all New Zealanders,” CTU Vice President Rachel Mackintosh said.
“There is work which must be done to ensure that all Kiwis, regardless of skin colour, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, those with disabilities, or gender identity, are united through love. We have more that connects us than separates us, we have more that we share than we have which makes us different. Together we must ensure that the voices of those that are so often the hardest to hear, are amplified and listened to. These are voices of minority groups.”
“Working people in New Zealand have a proud history in progressing issues of equality and unity. The union movement has stood with Tāngata Whenua at Takaparawha and with the anti-Apartheid movement while that regime persisted in South Africa, and stands today with those seeking to protect ancestral lands at Ihumātao. And it is certainly a truth that we aren’t equal until we are all equal.”
“The Council of Trade Unions wishes to pay special tribute to all those Kiwis who have been working in the aftermath of the attacks. Thank you for all that you have done and, for many of you, all that you are doing. We see your work and we honour it.”
“The CTU encourages employers to support employees to attend, watch or listen, to the National Remembrance Service. Our collective grief must be given the opportunity to be expressed. It is only then that the healing can begin and we can start to recreate a future of unity and strength and kindness to all,” Mackintosh said.
