Mrs Taualoa Lalopua Sanele, of Wellington, QSM for services to the union movement and Samoan community
Taualoa Lalopua Sanele was a member of the St Anne’s Catholic Church Choir in Newtown for many years. She was Treasurer of the Church’s Samoan community and Samoan Mother’s Group. She is now active with St Josephs Parish in Mount Victoria. In 1987, she became a union workplace delegate for the Wellington Hotel and Hospital Workers Union, now E tū. She was regional convenor and then National Convenor of its Komiti Pasifika.Mrs Sanele has appeared before many Parliamentary Select Committees and was prominent in the campaign to amend the Employment Relations Act to protect cleaners’ jobs and working conditions.