Uptempo: We move as a group - Upega Tatala (Opening the net) peer-support progression prototype
Upega Tatala brought together a group of Pasifika men working in blue-collar, low-paid jobs to share their fears, worries, dreams and aspirations for career progression. The group rapidly consolidated into a fa’a Samoa-centred and peer-led engine of mutual motivation to engage in training and upskilling. (Full Uptempo report on peer-to-peer methods to be released this year).
The group defined its vision as being able to enhance confidence, create a safe environment, foster leadership, and provide encouragement, to lay the foundations for workforce progression. The group achieved its aims. A key initial outcome was boosted confidence, leading to increased engagement in training and upskilling. Notably, the group members were mainly Pasifika men in blue-collar work, a group that generally has a low uptake of training.
Success factors for the group in boosting confidence and training uptake were:
Strong cultural cohesion and communication were due mainly to being migrant Samoan men with partners and children who could connect deeply on a specific cultural and gendered level.
The cultural superpower of Pasifika to advance as a collective. The specific ways that this was expressed was through mutual support, group accountability, direct P2P mentoring, and paired ‘buddies’. Accountability to the group and good-humoured ‘competition’ were key motivators of achievement. The group created its own ‘buddy system’ for check-ins, working together, and challenging each other.
The group met the strong need for Pasifika men to have a safe ‘third space’ to ‘unravel the net’, show vulnerability, and talk about their personal issues – something that was otherwise missing from their lives.
Two members of the group emerged as leaders due to their experience in trade union activities, meaning some existing confidence around organising, leadership and giving advice on pay and progression. However, Le Upega Tatala membership and meetings being separate from the union itself also allowed for independence in this ‘third space’.
There were both older and younger group members, leading to a tuākana-teina/ta’okete-tehina (older sibling, or cousin, or older peer – younger sibling, or cousin, or peer relationship) dynamic emerging.
Although brought together by Uptempo aiga facilitators, Upega Tatala needed little guidance from the facilitators. With minimal prompting and facilitation, the men quickly formed their own norms and processes based mainly on Samoan cultural foundations and became self-facilitating and self-leading. They set their own agendas, recruiting more members, pushing each other to engage in more training, and organising events that included other Uptempo aiga. For instance, Le Upega Tatala organised an Uptempo aiga picnic day in February 2023 (attended by over 100 people). Additionally, the wives of the Le Upega Tatala members formed their own group based on a book club and modelled on the successful experiences of Le Upega Tatala.
The men identified key challenges that were important for them to overcome, essentially drawing up a curriculum for initial upskilling. These were:
English language proficiency
Computer literacy
Respect towards spouses
Financial literacy
These challenges were taken to the Uptempo team who organised training. In a follow-up post-graduation, talanoa with the group revealed how upskilling, wage and career progression for the men can be directly attributed to the confidence boosts of Le Upega Tatala’s P2P support.
Shared stories highlighted that P2P destigmatisation of having English as a second language, the confidence boost provided by P2P support, and the effective establishment of a culture of progression within the group, had directly enabled these Pasifika workers to increase their income. This was achieved through upskilling, training, pay rises and promotions. Particularly, these achievements included the recognition of some of these Pasifika men’s existing, yet previously overlooked skill levels.
Sione’s Story
Boosting confidence in skills and overcoming worries about English language proficiency with the help of Le Upega Tatala led to Sione finally being recognised and promoted after 14 years of being stuck in a lower job level, despite regularly taking on senior tasks and training newcomers.
One member shared how he had been part of Sione’s story:
“He was there for over fourteen years. The new workers that had started working there for 3-6 months would get paid more than Sione. So we tell Sione who was stuck on level two for over fourteen years, but I keep telling Sione that he can do it - go and tell the supervisor all the reasons you should move up to level four. So Sione did. He went and told the supervisor he was teaching the new workers. When Sione did that he is now level four. If the Team Leader [level five role] is on holiday or sick Sione takes over the role, and he gets the Team Leader rates”.
Sione shared that asking was not easy:
“I wasn’t [English] speaking well and I tried my best. I asked the Manager [above the Team Leader] how can I move up, because I know everything on the floor?”
Another member shared how he encouraged a fellow Le Upega Tatala member who works in the same company to overcome embarrassment about their language skills or accents and be confident asking managers for training or a pay rise:
“They’re embarrassed that if they say something and the words are not pronounced right and that’s why sometimes they can’t approach their managers. But we challenge them and tell them don’t worry, that’s not your language, that’s your second language.”
Another member encouraged the men to not be scared to talk to people in charge, and to establish their presence in the workplace even if they feel their English is poor.
“I started on $10.50 and now I get paid $30 per hour and I am the Team Leader now for nearly five years. While my English is not too good, I try my best. Keep talking and learn from them [the office workers and leaders] and I learn how to do things [at work]. Every day I knock on their doors and say good morning. Keep knocking, don’t be scared. Now they know me, and I know them.”