Media release: Historic tertiary sector strike – investment in tertiary staff critical to a thriving Aotearoa.

Today around 8000 Tertiary Education Union (TEU) members at universities and polytechs across New Zealand will strike from 1.15pm to 5.00pm.

This is historic action – the first time universities and polytechs have gone on strike together.

Amy Ross, National Secretary of TEU, says a thriving Aotearoa needs quality tertiary education.

“If we want to live in a country that supports us all with enough quality nurses, builders, teachers, doctors, engineers and other skilled professionals, then we need to value the people who teach them.”

Ross says that none of the pay offers received from employers in either sector go anywhere towards meeting the cost of living crisis, but pay isn’t the only issue staff are striking over

“Work security is a massive issue for university staff. At universities just over half (54.8%) of the workforce are on temporary fixed-term employment agreements: insecure work. This creates huge job uncertainty for people who are relied on to tutor, teach and do the research that a university’s reputation rests on.

“At polytechs, some employers are still refusing to engage in the multi-employer collective agreement (MECA)and instead want to change the structure and conditions of the collective agreement members work under.”

Ross says that polytech negotiations have dragged on for 10 months.

“We should have an agreement that values a workforce that has been through cut after cut and has been constantly undervalued. Employers are choosing not to engage or not to value the workforce that trains the skills Aotearoa needs.”

Maryann Corrigan, who is an Early Childhood Education lecturer at UCOL in Masterton says that staff are fed up. She says the MECA is an important part of fairness in the polytech system.

“UCOL here in Masterton and polytechs in regions are such an asset; communities understand this. We keep students in the region where they go on to work. For management to think they can erode staff conditions by wanting to get rid of our hard-won terms and conditions leaves us angry, especially when we hear that other polytechs are willing to negotiate as a multi-employer agreement. Our MECA is such a critical part of parity for us in the polytech sector. We give so much to our students and we need our employers to recognise this.”

Annick Masselot is a Professor of Law at University of Canterbury who says that it’s time the Vice Chancellor at Canterbury to prioritise staff.

“Here at Canterbury, management have poured money into brand new buildings and software, but staff have been offered a pitiful pay rise. Students are flocking down here, which is great, but our increased workloads, need to be resourced and staff need to be invested in.”

David Kukutai Jones, a senior lecturer teaching in the nursing, social work and Māori health ecology at Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) in Ōtara, says that high staff turnover is having a negative impact on staff and students.

“Some staff are being asked to cover the work of 4-5 people because staff are leaving and not being replaced. This creates enormous pressure on staff and there’s just not enough of us to teach – we’ve seen this in the nursing department, in carpentry and trades and more.

“At the same time we’ve seen a rise in student complaints, because they’re not getting the support they need because of these staffing issues. Profit is being put ahead of people, we see this at a management level at MIT and we can also see it at a government level. If we want great nurses, and social workers in this country, we need to invest in the people that teach them.”

Finn Illsley-Kemp is a senior research fellow and national expert on earthquake and volcanoes at Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington. He says that the insecurity of work in the sector must be addressed.

“I’ve been working for 8 and a half years teaching, researching and supervising and I’m still in precarious contract employment. My research brings in funding for the university year after year, yet what I receive in return are fixed term agreements. The university should not be making bank by keeping my work insecure.”