New strike at University of Auckland.

Professional (non-academic) staff at The University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau who are members of Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union have commenced a week-long strike.

The strike is a ban on working more than the ordinary hours of work defined in the collective agreement from 8:30 this morning until 5pm on Thursday 24 November. This strike is in addition to a ban on entering and releasing student marks or course marks into any student management system that commenced at 7pm on Monday.

TEU Kaiwhakahaere | Organiser Adam Craigie says “our members are only contracted and paid to work 37.5 hours per week, yet this is rarely adhered to, if ever. This strike will shine a light on an important underlying issue in the current dispute.”

“Universities function on an enormous amount of goodwill. In the aftermath of over a decade of restructuring that has seen hundreds of staff leave but the work they did remaining, our members have been struggling to do more and more on top of the full-time jobs they already had. Then COVID-19 hit and significantly increased workloads again.”

“This has left them at and beyond breaking point with little real empathy from senior management who are now telling them they are not worth a pay rise that keeps the value of their pay up with inflation when that is the minimum they deserve.”

“Enough is enough.”