Other participants commented on qualities they felt Pacific workers shared that went unnoticed and unrewarded in the workplace. These included the ability to work hard and to be humble. A construction worker told us “our people are some of the most hardest, caring, humblest workers I’ve worked with” (S198). Another person, also in construction, commented “it is difficult for Pacific Islanders to ask for money as we are raised to be humble – it sucks but it’s how I am” (S204). The quality of humility was apparent in other fields too. At a worker talanoa focused on social work, one participant shared: Pacific social workers report that, when a first pay offer is made, it is generally accepted without challenge. The reasons given for this are Pacific cultures often hold a value of humility and therefore a belief of what is offered is what they should have. (T011) A manufacturing worker felt that companies would benefit from Pacific peoples’ skills but that humility could be holding people back: All companies should be taking advantage of employees’ life skills as well. It’s difficult to see me grow in a company where majority are skilled yet not taking on more responsibilities due to pay. (S027) One of our key informants made the link between these qualities and the historical reasons Pacific workers have been attracted to Aotearoa New Zealand: I think historically we’ve always used Pacific Communities and migrant communities to do work here that Pākehā people think they’re too good for, but that’s also connected to low benefits in the last 30, 40 years. (T002) She connected this with a skill that Pacific workers are supposedly known for – resilience: Yes, it’s great that we are resilient people but why? We’ve had to be. We were forced to be resilient. And that’s used as a catchphrase in a lot of career progression or whatever for Pacific 45 64 people, diversity inclusion. The word resilient – use that. We’re resilient. I wish we didn’t have to be resilient. (T002) Another person commented on one of the cumulative impacts of humility and resilience, particularly in physically demanding low-paid work. It can take a toll on the workers concerned. This person wanted to change the way the narrative was framed around Pacific peoples’ work: The type of work that we are doing not being valued, and I think changing that conversation from the type of work we are doing being low skilled to the type of work we are doing is actually high risk in terms of our health – the implications of that. The amount of family members that have arthritis from all the nightshift and the factory work, the back pain and the NCDs. Those social inequities obviously play a massive part in the type of work that we do end up in. (T012) Researchers have begun to connect how the historical undervaluing and abuse of Pacific peoples’ labour connects to the contemporary undervaluing of Pacific peoples’ labour, which contributes to the Pacific Pay Gap.45 Hard work and knowing one’s own worth Related to the preceding discussion, several participants commented on the need to build confidence among Pacific workers so that they would know and appreciate their own worth – and the skills and experience they bring – in the workplace. One health worker outlined how Pacific workers were not paid for their worth: I feel the efforts and time we as Pacific Islanders spend to better a company and push through with targets, we don’t get paid for our worth. I feel sometimes we are categorised with a static pay rate despite the many experiences and years we spend at a job to make it prosper while other cultures get paid more just because they received a degree in the field but not enough or no experience dealing with the hard work by hands. (S076) Tuiburelevu, Litia, and Hugo Wagner-Hiliau. “Pick Your Own Damn fruit.” E-Tangata. November 1, 2020. https://e-tangata. co.nz/comment-and-analysis/pick-your-own-damn-fruit/