Tertiary Update Vol 16 No 16 Punitive measures to catch debt-laden graduates at the border are a symptom of a bigger problem says TEU national president Lesley Francey. Last week’s budget drew media attention for its attempts to reclaim unpaid student loans from ex-students who had absconded overseas, including hiring overseas debt collectors and measures [...]

University of Auckland gardeners and security officers have won a living wage in recent negotiations. The gardeners and security officers are members of either the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) or TEU. The pay rise for both groups of members was 1.2 percent and 1.2 percent on paid and printed rates for a two [...]

Caretakers at Victoria University of Wellington are hoping to win a living wage in their current collective agreement negotiations.  The caretakers, some of whom belong to the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU), and some of whom belong to TEU, are negotiating a multi-union collective agreement that they hope will deliver them a pay rise [...]

Too many institutions are continuing to run high surpluses rather than invest in education says TEU national president Lesley Francey. The Tertiary Education Commission published its indicative financial results last week, showing a significant number of institutions generating profits substantially more than the 3 percent of revenue that the commission requires. The 2011 figures showed [...]

Commentary by TEU vice-president Sandra Grey As I sit here humming Monty Python’s “Always look on the bright side of life”, my immediate thoughts on the 2013 Budget is thank goodness there aren’t the major cuts to funding seen in Australia and the UK. Yet, I cannot help thinking that public tertiary education in New [...]

Massey University has contacted us to say there were some errors in the Manawatu Standard story upon which we based our Tertiary Update story yesterday: Vice-chancellor Steve Maharey has made the following statement to staff at the university: The living wage: The university has taken no position on this issue.  During an interview on Radio NZ National, to discuss the living wage concept I indicated that it was a very [...]

Long term under-funding of tertiary education since 2009 is taking away opportunities to learn from students and future students, say TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs, upon hearing news that the tertiary education budget will stagnate more than $400 million below than 2009 funding levels. As one example of these cuts, despite estimating that student numbers will remain relatively steady, [...]

Tertiary Update Vol 16 No 15 Massey University will likely be next to follow The Warehouse by offering its workers a “living wage” according to the Manawatu Standard earlier this week. University spokesman James Gardiner told the Standard the university would meet tertiary union representatives at the pay negotiations table with an offer to match [...]