People Have the Power
The Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand is both a guild and a union. We’ve been a union since 2019. The NZ Writers Guild started out as a union in 1976 and Equity New Zealand came into existence as a union in 1944. We three are the unions in New Zealand’s screen sector, and are affiliated to the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU).
I attended my first NZCTU biennial conference last week. One of the biggest impressions left on me from the conference is that unions are bastions of democracy. We are large and small, democratic, membership-based organisations that foster active participation. We give workers a collective voice in public policy discussions, strengthening democracy at both the workplace and societal levels while striving for workers’ rights.
So much of my work at the guild, and my colleagues at the other guilds and associations, is taken up representing you to funding bodies, government ministers and ministries, other organisations, companies and individuals. We work to make your working world better.
Another lasting impression from the conference was the unity that all unions have in pursuing the best for their members, many of whom are in a less fortunate space than those of us in screen.
DEGANZ, NZWG and Equity NZ, joined by SIGANZ and SMSG, are united in their efforts to get collective bargaining underway under the Screen Industry Workers Act.
At our Collective Power Workshop last weekend, explaining what the Screen Industry Workers Act is all about, it was encouraging to see screen workers from a variety of disciplines in attendance. They were actively engaged in learning what SIWA can do for them and how it can help to bring our industry onto a truly professional footing, on par with developed nations elsewhere. Which is why it is so disappointing that we have disunity in our sector over SIWA. All at a time when so many voices are calling for us to be united to confront the challenges facing us in screen.
I encourage all of you to watch the Choir! Choir! Choir! rendition with Patti Smith of her song ‘People Have The Power’ on YouTube. These lyrics particularly resonate:
that the people have the power
to redeem the work of fools
upon the meek the graces shower
it’s decreed the people rule
For all of you who seek a more professional New Zealand screen industry that truly embraces collaboration, wellbeing and equity, it’s time, as Patti Smith so eloquently says at the end of the performance, to…
Use your voice!
Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director
Last updated on 6 November 2025
