Draft policies

There are currently six draft TEU policies that you can give your feedback on before they are voted on at Conference later this year. They are all available on the TEU online forum:

• Academic freedom
• General staff job evaluation
• Public education
• Teacher registration and the supervision of practicum
• Intellectual property
• Job evaluation methodology

Contact your local branch committee to give your feedback on any or all of these policies.

Pay Equity Challenge Coalition action

At Parliament at 1pm on the 30th of June, Wellington supporters are asked to join us to uncover five solutions to the gender pay gap under five large stones at Parliament. – “No stone Unturned!”

Why? On 18 June 2009 the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Pansy Wong, told Parliament her Government would “leave no stone unturned in trying to close the pay gap”. Dress in suitable rock lifting attire (including hard hats and boots), P&EE activists will lift the stones to reveal those solutions. The stones are big – we need you there!

Victoria University claims endorsement meetings

TEU VUW members have a chance to give their final comments and endorsement on the claims the union will present in bargaining next month. The bargaining team will also be up for endorsement.

• Pipitea: 10.30am, Tues 29 June, RH LT2
• Kelburn: 12.00pm, Tues 29 June, KK LT 301
• Karori: 3.30pm, Tues 29 June, THK LT2
• Te Aro: 12.30pm, Wed 30 June, VS 308

Contribute to Kua Rangona

To submit local news, events or other information to Kua Rangona contact Stephen Day phone or text 021 2900 734 or email http://scr.im/stephenday. This might include details of upcoming branch meetings, photos of events, issues you want to share with other people or even birthday wishes. If we’ve got space we’ll try to publish it.

Holidays and sick leave under threat

Employers want to cut your holiday and sick pay entitlements

Employers are trying to persuade the Government to break their promise not to reduce entitlements in the review of the Holidays Act.

The employers are proposing to turn 5 days sick leave into 40 hours of entitlement.  This means for example that a worker that works a regular 4×12 hour shift and is sick on one of those days would lose 12 hours sick leave instead of 1 day. The worker would be left with a balance of 28 hours (2 days leave) rather than the 4 days leave entitlement they would currently have. Employers are also arguing to change the entitlement to a full alternative day’s holiday when you work on a statutory holiday so you instead get only the hours worked.

The change to calculate leave entitlements by the hour will reduce entitlements for many workers.

And the Government intends to continue with their policy of allowing the fourth week’s annual leave to be traded for cash.

So what can you do?

• Get some of your work mates together and arrange a meeting with your local Government Member of Parliament to give them a copy of our letter ‘To whom it may concern’: find your nearest Government MP here
• Write to the Minister of Labour: Kate Wilkinson, Minister of Labour, contact details here (k.wilkinson@ministers.govt.nz )
• Write to the Prime Minister: John Key’s contact details here (j.key@ministers.govt.nz)
• Write a letter to the paper, ring talkback radio, spread the news via emails and Facebook
• Hand out the ‘Holidays under attack’ leaflet
• Talk to your local branch about other activity.

For more information, download the summary and briefing note with examples of how the changes would affect workers in different situations.