General Staff Day 2020 celebrated at campuses across Aotearoa.

On Friday 28 August, TEU members at branches across Aotearoa New Zealand celebrated General Staff Day 2020 and showed our collective appreciation for the hard work, expertise and dedication of general staff.

TEU branches around the country celebrated General Staff Day with various events, from morning or afternoon tea, breakfast, a BBQ, giveaways, a lunch time quiz, and hui.

Massey Manawatū celebrated General Staff Day with two sessions of breakfasts in the student café, which attracted more than 40 members, the University of Canterbury branch hosted a lunch time BBQ, while Victoria University members took the opportunity to thank general staff personally and celebrate team work and collegiality.

TEU organiser Nicole Wallace says General Staff Day is about TEU members acknowledging and celebrating all the work that general, professional and allied staff do across the sector, while providing general staff the opportunity to reflect on the importance and value of the work they do,

“There’s a lot of stress right now, understandably, about the future, and lots of people are feeling lucky to have jobs. But it’s good for general staff to remember that institutions are also lucky to have general staff, because they are the people who make the teaching, research and civic service of the sector possible”.

This year general staff members were asked to consider a new General Staff Manifesto committing the entire membership to taking actions which ensure general staff pay and conditions reflect the work they put in, that their voice is heard in all decision-making spaces both in the union and tertiary education institutions, and that we are committed to actions to advance equity for general staff.

Over 2,500 general, allied and professional staff have been thanked with a Thank You! mailout and a further invitation to provide feedback on the Draft General Staff Manifesto.

“Make sure you share the draft manifesto with colleagues and send feedback to us,” says Nicole Wallace, “so that we can work together to ensure general staff get the pay and conditions that reflect the work they put in every day.”