It has not changed its mind. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe board has full confidence in its CEO, Ms Tania Rangiheuea,\u201d it said in a statement yesterday to the Herald. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud of her work. Ms Rangiheuea is currently on leave. She has certainly not been \u2018stood down\u2019 as claimed on social media. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn the \u2018stood down\u2019 suggestion, we are aware that some have made and continue to make untrue and defamatory remarks about Ms Rangiheuea and MUMA to journalists, on social media and in podcast interviews. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not tolerate the constant attacks and lies about our chief executive,\u201d the board said.<\/p>\n
MUMA is one of the oldest and largest social service providers in South Auckland, with more than 110 staff and contracts with agencies such as Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Social Development.<\/p>\n
McCarten and Jackson are former close friends, having worked together as union officials and in the Alliance Party. <\/p>\n
McCarten stayed with Jackson and Rangiheuea 15 years ago when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. <\/p>\n
Tania Rangiheuea is on leave as CEO of Manukau Urban M\u0101ori Authority.<\/p>\n
The trespass order against McCarten and One Union was conveyed by Jackson, in his capacity as chairman of the Nga Whare Waatea Marae, which hosts a variety of enterprises, including an early childhood centre, a school, a food bank, a radio station, a driving school, Jackson\u2019s electorate office, and most offices of MUMA. <\/p>\n
It was issued in July on the same day McCarten surprised MUMA management with formal documents titled \u201cAuthorisation to Enter Workplaces,\u201d and \u201cInitiation of Bargaining for a Collective Employment Agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n
McCarten told the Herald this week that the majority of workers at MUMA were now members of the union and that it had a union committee operating. <\/p>\n
He said MUMA was acting in good faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve now encouraged everyone to join the union, and they\u2019ll enter into negotiations in good faith. So we\u2019ve given them the claims and \u2026 I\u2019ve got the bargaining team in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I don\u2019t need to be on the site because the workers are doing it themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trespass order against One Union has been lifted – though not against McCarten, who spent most of 2024 working in human resources at MUMA before re-establishing himself last year as a union organiser.<\/p>\n
Deputy chief executive Mike Tukaki will be acting CEO at MUMA during Rangiheuea\u2019s leave period, thought to be three months.<\/p>\n
It is understood that negotiations by One Union for a collective employment agreement for MUMA staff are scheduled to begin this week, with veteran unionist Mike Treen taking the union lead and Tukaki taking the lead for MUMA.<\/p>\n
The MUMA board statement said that One Union was welcome at MUMA.<\/p>\n
It said One Union had had two meetings recently with MUMA leadership, and it held an information afternoon there recently in the whare area of the marae complex, with all MUMA staff able to attend.<\/p>\n
It said that McCarten remained trespassed – a matter between him and the marae. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not a MUMA matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
A mediation meeting occurred in late January between the union and MUMA management. <\/p>\n
Labour MP Willie Jackson said no MP’s partner should have to put up with what his wife has had to endure. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
But MUMA would not comment on it, saying no one is able to say what occurs at any mediation \u201cbecause it is a confidential process with everything said and done covered by legal (settlement) privilege.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut MUMA can say it attended mediation in good faith and will always look to resolve matters in good faith and to the letter of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Herald understands the mediation ostensibly related to legal action McCarten lodged in the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) in December against the trespass order, and legal action MUMA had taken against McCarten, also in December, in which he was alleged to have breached the terms of a confidential settlement.<\/p>\n
But many matters that McCarten wanted addressed at the mediation related to actions of the board of MUMA, including the board\u2019s decision in March to remove former chairman Mike Hinton.<\/p>\n
McCarten lodged three personal grievance complaints against MUMA in 2025 and one was settled. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve not taken any others because\u2026 the behaviour has changed since I raised the issue,\u201d he said. \u201cThere haven\u2019t been any more cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he lodged his complaint about the trespass order in December, he submitted a supporting document listing those three cases and 16 other anonymised examples that he believed would have met the threshold of personal grievances if they had been formalised into complaints.<\/p>\n
McCarten said he had asked the ERA to investigate those cases as part of his claim against the trespass order because they were the reason for the union wanting access to MUMA in July when he was trespassed.<\/p>\n
The ERA has yet to determine whether it will investigate. <\/p>\n