Member Spotlight - Noel Zeng 大家好.

Noel Zeng 大家好 works as an eResearch Solutions Specialist at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. He is a TEU delegate. In the weekend he likes to cook all day or play social football.

What is your favourite part of your job? What is the biggest challenge of your job?

It’s a privilege to work with academics from all corners of the institution, from biomedicine to the social sciences. I get to learn about their work and their ways of seeing the world, and in partnership I can apply my technical skills to help answer their research questions.

This is why I find it troubling when professional staff are seen as “inefficiencies” to be downsized by our institutions. Job cuts, whether it’s permanent or rolling fixed-term roles, result in loss of livelihoods, and increased workload for academic and professional staff that remain. Professional staff are integral to the teaching and research excellence of the institutions and should be valued.

Why is it important to you to be a part of your union?

I’m always inspired by the people I meet from across the sector, and how we look out for each other. The folks in our union are passionate, intellectual and funny. Our mahi is just, but arduous and ongoing: pay equity, secure work, upholding te Tiriti and anti-racism, calling for an urgent response to the climate crisis from the tertiary sector, and yet we pull together in solidarity to tackle them and share a laugh afterwards. The problems don’t seem as permanent when you are chipping away at them with others.

Why did you step up to take on a delegate role?

In one of the first union meetings I attended, I repeatedly piped up about what the union could be doing. One of our organisers at the time, Jane Kostanich, came up afterwards and asked to get coffee. Instead of dismissing the concerns, she welcomed the feedback, then asked me to step up to be a member of the Branch Committee and a delegate! I’ve learned the wisdom in this: if they’re passionate and complaining, it shows they care. Invite them to work on it with you.

What sort of things do you do as a delegate?

I’ve noticed that one of the big barriers to my colleagues joining is they don’t know anyone in the union. When they hear what union members are fighting for it’s through the perspective of their employer or the news.

As a delegate, I do my bit to keep non-member colleagues in my workplace informed of what we’re currently working on, listen for the issues they face, and invite them to join. The bargaining campaign is an important time for this: working with other delegates, we design posters, plan events and have one-on-one union conversations to bring our colleagues into the mahi. It’s a great creative outlet.

Another aspect of being a delegate is supporting union colleagues when they have problems with the employer or their colleagues. I don’t always have the answers and would refer them to organisers, but they appreciated having a sympathetic ear. Being a visible Asian member, I am glad to be able to support union colleagues from my communities, some of whom are more comfortable talking about their issues in their first language or with someone from a similar background.

It may sound like a lot, but the best part of this is sharing the load with other union colleagues. That connection to people is what I value the most about being in the union.