title: Strategy and vision: The influence of the AMWU on the NZEU from 1987-1992 with respect to education and training reforms

authors: Piercy, Gemma Louise

subjects: Unions

abstract: It has been established that in the late 1980s, early 1990s the AMWU and the NZEU developed a close relationship through which the NZEU altered it traditional bargaining strategies.  This study set out to discover the specific details of this relationship and its implications, with respect to education and training reforms, from around 1987-1992.  The thesis began the investigation with a literature review, followed by an extensive series of interviews in Australia and New Zealand.  The interviews were conducted with officials and former officials of the AMWU and the NZEU.  Key players from the education and training reform process in both countries.  The conclusion of this thesis is that, the pressure from the rise of neo-liberalism and the changes to production drove the NZEU to find alternative bargaining strategy.  The strength of the unions in Australia and historical ties drew the NZEU to the AMWU, who under similar constraints, had formulated new bargaining strategies.  These new strategies embraced 'partnership unionism' which used co-operative practices and training as a means of maintaining leverage under hostile conditions.  This thesis asserts that the NZEU took on board the AMWU's 'partnership unionism', through their relationship, as they saw them as a means of maintaining leverage in a neo-liberal environment.  Training is the linchpin of this approach highlighting the strategic importance of education and training to unions. This thesis concludes that the NZEU has been able to maintain its leverage in a neo-liberal environment because, in line with Wolfgang Streeck's analysis, it has recognised that education and training provide a degree of leverage in a hostile environment.

text: Strategy and vision: The influence of the AMWU on the NZEU from 1987-1992 with respect to education and training reforms It has been established that in the late 1980s, early 1990s the AMWU and the NZEU developed a close relationship through which the NZEU altered it traditional bargaining strategies.  This study set out to discover the specific details of this relationship and its implications, with respect to education and training reforms, from around 1987-1992.  The thesis began the investigation with a literature review, followed by an extensive series of interviews in Australia and New Zealand.  The interviews were conducted with officials and former officials of the AMWU and the NZEU.  Key players from the education and training reform process in both countries.  The conclusion of this thesis is that, the pressure from the rise of neo-liberalism and the changes to production drove the NZEU to find alternative bargaining strategy.  The strength of the unions in Australia and historical ties drew the NZEU to the AMWU, who under similar constraints, had formulated new bargaining strategies.  These new strategies embraced 'partnership unionism' which used co-operative practices and training as a means of maintaining leverage under hostile conditions.  This thesis asserts that the NZEU took on board the AMWU's 'partnership unionism', through their relationship, as they saw them as a means of maintaining leverage in a neo-liberal environment.  Training is the linchpin of this approach highlighting the strategic importance of education and training to unions. This thesis concludes that the NZEU has been able to maintain its leverage in a neo-liberal environment because, in line with Wolfgang Streeck's analysis, it has recognised that education and training provide a degree of leverage in a hostile environment.

year: 1999

title: Sleep and performance during a preseason in elite rugby union athletes

authors: Teece, Angus R.

subjects: athletic performance

abstract: BACKGROUND: Preseason training optimises adaptations in the physical qualities required in rugby union athletes. Sleep can be compromised during periods of intensified training. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between sleep quantity and changes in physical performance over a preseason phase in professional rugby union athletes. METHODS: Twenty-nine professional rugby union athletes (Mean ± SD, age: 23 ± 3 years) had their sleep duration monitored for 3 weeks using wrist actigraphy. Strength and speed were assessed at baseline and at week 3. Aerobic capacity and body composition were assessed at baseline, at week 3 and at week 5. Participants were stratified into 2 groups for analysis: <7 h 30 min sleep per night (LOW, n = 15) and >7 h 30 min sleep per night (HIGH, n = 14). RESULTS: A significant group x time interaction was determined for aerobic capacity (p = 0.02, d = 1.25) at week 3 and for skinfolds at week 3 (p < 0.01, d = 0.58) and at week 5 (p = 0.02, d = 0.92), in favour of the HIGH sleep group. No differences were evident between groups for strength or speed measures (p ≥ 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study highlights that longer sleep duration during the preseason may assist in enhancing physical qualities including aerobic capacity and body composition in elite rugby union athletes.

text: Sleep and performance during a preseason in elite rugby union athletes BACKGROUND: Preseason training optimises adaptations in the physical qualities required in rugby union athletes. Sleep can be compromised during periods of intensified training. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between sleep quantity and changes in physical performance over a preseason phase in professional rugby union athletes. METHODS: Twenty-nine professional rugby union athletes (Mean ± SD, age: 23 ± 3 years) had their sleep duration monitored for 3 weeks using wrist actigraphy. Strength and speed were assessed at baseline and at week 3. Aerobic capacity and body composition were assessed at baseline, at week 3 and at week 5. Participants were stratified into 2 groups for analysis: <7 h 30 min sleep per night (LOW, n = 15) and >7 h 30 min sleep per night (HIGH, n = 14). RESULTS: A significant group x time interaction was determined for aerobic capacity (p = 0.02, d = 1.25) at week 3 and for skinfolds at week 3 (p < 0.01, d = 0.58) and at week 5 (p = 0.02, d = 0.92), in favour of the HIGH sleep group. No differences were evident between groups for strength or speed measures (p ≥ 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study highlights that longer sleep duration during the preseason may assist in enhancing physical qualities including aerobic capacity and body composition in elite rugby union athletes.

year: 2021

title: Contextualising Māori writing: a study of prose fiction written in English by Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Keri Hulme and Alan Duff

authors: Calvert, Julia Helen

abstract: All prose fiction written in English by Māori is political on one level or another. The authors considered in this thesis, Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Keri Hulme and Alan Duff, choose to identify as Māori, but for each writer exactly what this entails implies something different. The diverse range of Māori characters represented in their work illustrates the heterogeneity of contemporary Māori identity. Whilst bearing in mind that there is no fixed Māori identity, this thesis proposes that all fiction written in English by Māori is motivated by a belief that Māori are a disadvantaged group within New Zealand society. 

Three of the four writers, Ihimaera, Grace and Hulme, write against a background of colonisation. Their fiction confronts grievances based on perceived injustices committed against Māori in the past by European colonists and is concerned with the restoration of Māori rights pertaining to land, language, identity and political voice. While all three engage with these issues in their fiction, this thesis specifically considers the way in which Ihimaera treats the theme of land, Grace focuses on issues of education and Hulme explores Māori mythology.

Alan Duff stands apart from the other three writers in his belief that colonisation is not to blame for contemporary Māori disadvantage. Rather, Duff considers the situation to be the result of inherent flaws within Māori society. Through his often didactic writing he proposes that improved Māori socioeconomic levels can only be achieved through a radical structural and economic re-evaluation of Māori culture.

This thesis contextualises the work of the four authors and explores the ways in which their fiction engages with historical and contemporary issues of “race relations” and cultural identity in New Zealand. A sociological approach has been applied to the texts. This approach derives from the Māori writers’ own insistent reading of contemporary Māori identity as the product of historical encounter between Māori and Pākehā. The authors work in a dialectical relationship to previous Pākehā representations of Māori in literature, are historically revisionist, and are frequently adversarial. 

Despite the differences in personal and political perspectives held by the authors, their fictions share a common goal in their search for Māori pathways to empowerment. This thesis argues that prose fiction written in English by Māori writers contributes to the political activism of the Māori people and helps to foster an environment in which new perspectives on Māori culture and bicultural relations can be articulated.

text: Contextualising Māori writing: a study of prose fiction written in English by Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Keri Hulme and Alan Duff All prose fiction written in English by Māori is political on one level or another. The authors considered in this thesis, Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Keri Hulme and Alan Duff, choose to identify as Māori, but for each writer exactly what this entails implies something different. The diverse range of Māori characters represented in their work illustrates the heterogeneity of contemporary Māori identity. Whilst bearing in mind that there is no fixed Māori identity, this thesis proposes that all fiction written in English by Māori is motivated by a belief that Māori are a disadvantaged group within New Zealand society. 

Three of the four writers, Ihimaera, Grace and Hulme, write against a background of colonisation. Their fiction confronts grievances based on perceived injustices committed against Māori in the past by European colonists and is concerned with the restoration of Māori rights pertaining to land, language, identity and political voice. While all three engage with these issues in their fiction, this thesis specifically considers the way in which Ihimaera treats the theme of land, Grace focuses on issues of education and Hulme explores Māori mythology.

Alan Duff stands apart from the other three writers in his belief that colonisation is not to blame for contemporary Māori disadvantage. Rather, Duff considers the situation to be the result of inherent flaws within Māori society. Through his often didactic writing he proposes that improved Māori socioeconomic levels can only be achieved through a radical structural and economic re-evaluation of Māori culture.

This thesis contextualises the work of the four authors and explores the ways in which their fiction engages with historical and contemporary issues of “race relations” and cultural identity in New Zealand. A sociological approach has been applied to the texts. This approach derives from the Māori writers’ own insistent reading of contemporary Māori identity as the product of historical encounter between Māori and Pākehā. The authors work in a dialectical relationship to previous Pākehā representations of Māori in literature, are historically revisionist, and are frequently adversarial. 

Despite the differences in personal and political perspectives held by the authors, their fictions share a common goal in their search for Māori pathways to empowerment. This thesis argues that prose fiction written in English by Māori writers contributes to the political activism of the Māori people and helps to foster an environment in which new perspectives on Māori culture and bicultural relations can be articulated.

year: 2002