Antonia Verstappen – University of Auckland.

Kia ora tātou. Ko Maungatautari te maunga. Ko Waikato te awa. Nō Kirikiriroa ahau. Ko Verstappen tōku whānau. Ko Antonia tōku ingoa.

My name is Antonia Verstappen, and I’m seeking your support for the position of Industrial and Professional Vice President of our Tertiary Education Union.

I am an active member at the University of Auckland, where I’m an academic staff member in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. I have been a TEU member since 2012, have served on the Branch Committee since 2014 where I’m currently an academic staff representative, and I have previously served as the branch treasurer. I’m currently the women’s representative on the IPC, after being elected in a by-election in 2019 and re-elected in 2020, 2022 and 2023.

The TEU does lots of important work, but I believe our industrial work is some of our most critical. It’s what protects us in our workplaces and raises our work conditions and living standards. That’s why I’ve been so involved in the IPC and have got stuck into the difficult work of bargaining at my workplace.

In my time on the Branch Committee, I’ve been a part of every bargaining team at my workplace in the past ten years, except the most recent one (at some point, the part-time PhD needed to get finished!). This has meant weathering many rounds of negotiating with an often difficult and hostile employer. I’m no stranger to taking strike action and helping to run bargaining campaigns! This experience has really demonstrated the power and usefulness of our process of national TEU claims, and it’s this experience that has been really helpful to me in my time on IPC so far.

As a precarious, fixed-term academic, I understand the challenges posed by the increasing precarity of employment in the sector. My involvement in the TEU to date has included advocating for those in our position and working to find solutions. This is something I would like the IPC to focus more on, should I be elected to this role.

The IPC Vice President has a seat on the Council of our union. Should I be elected to this role, in addition to taking steps to strengthen our industrial muscle, I’d like to focus some of my work on Council to take steps to strengthen and increase the member-leadership of our union. The TEU often describes itself as a member-led union, and it’s important that we take opportunities to reinforce this.

Furthermore, we have seen our union running deficit budgets and needing to take steps to improve our financial position in recent years. The TEU Council has an important role in this. Outside of my professional work, I sit on the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee of a different large, member-led organisation, and would like to bring that experience to the financial governance of the TEU.

I’m seeking your support to take on this important leadership role, and continue undertaking the important work of the IPC over the next term.