Why academic unions matter By Paul Michel Taillon   The vandals are at the gate, according to David Robinson, Senior Advisor at Education International (a trade union federation representing thirty million education employees around the world) and former Associate Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. So who [...]

Tertiary Update Vol 15 No 1 At least nine New Zealanders have joined a global boycott of Elsevier, the world’s largest scientific journal publisher. The protest has rapidly gained momentum since it began as an irate blog post at the end of January. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education [...]

Educators are critical of a plan by the University of Auckland and Teach First NZ to fast track 20 graduates into classrooms after just six weeks of teacher-specific training. The minister of education Hekia Parata is backing the scheme, but it is yet to receive sign-off from the Teachers Council [...]

Tertiary Update Vol 14 No 44 Academic staff who are members of TEU will be voting on a new collective agreement over the next two weeks after their negotiating team reached an agreement with the vice-chancellor today. Academics at the university are currently all on individual employment agreements, after their [...]

General staff at the University of Auckland will vote shortly on a new collective agreement  that includes a commitment from the university to purse a “fair, objective, transparent and fiscally responsible remuneration model” and an agreement that TEU and the PSA will be involved in the development of the new [...]

Negotiations for PSA and TEU general staff members at the University of Auckland resume today with mediation assistance. Union members have been negotiating for four months now, and are still awaiting a pay offer. TEU advocate Jane Kostanich says the union parties are ready to negotiate “but we need an [...]

Councils for many tertiary institutions are again debating fee rises for their students. With continued government cuts to funding and high inflation this year, many are opting to increase fees by the maximum allowable four percent. At the University of Auckland this provoked the protest de jour of the month [...]

General staff members at the University of Auckland from both TEU and the PSA are currently voting on industrial action and are holding stop-work meetings after the university intransigently proposed to put them on a new performance pay model. Union members will meet next week to discuss bargaining and a [...]

Sandra Grey, National President, NZTEU  Melbourne, 7 October 2011 New Zealand is in the middle of Rugby World Cup fever. In every city and town I visit, there are signs welcoming visiting teams and supporters; events to ensure they enjoy their time in New Zealand; and, of course plenty of All Blacks [...]

University of Auckland’s boss Stuart McCutcheon received an increase in his remuneration of between $40,000-$60,000, according to data released by the State Services Commission. The vice-chancellor now has a remuneration package of between $640,000 and $649,999. TEU national president Sandra Grey says Professor McCutcheon was the third highest paid public [...]