Three universities to hold ratification ballots.

Hau Taki Haere | Tertiary Update Vol 26, No 21

After months of negotiations have shown how strong TEU is and how committed we are to working and making decisions together, it’s time for Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union members at three of Aotearoa’s eight universities to make choices about where to head from here.

At Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou | University of Otago, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury and Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington, TEU members will vote in ratification ballots to decide if the offers made by their employers are good enough to accept.

Te Pou Ahurei | National Secretary Sandra Grey says “we have reached this point in our campaign to lift pay settlements in the university sector because we have seen movement in some employer offers. This has occurred because coordinated, nationwide strike action has had an impact and because some of the improved offers will result in 14-17 percent pay rises over the next two years for the lowest paid workers on our collective agreements.”

“This has not been an easy step to take however, because the proposed settlements vary widely for different groups of staff. For some staff the pay rises are only 2%, and for tutors at one university the employer is offering no pay increase at all. To see casual staff treated much worse than their permanent colleagues is not fair or reasonable.”

While the movement is enough to put the proposed deals to members for a ratification vote at three universities, there is still some distance to go before this step can be taken at the other five. At University of Auckland, Massey University, Waikato University, Lincoln University, and AUT negotiations remain ongoing.

Sandra Grey says “the wide variation in offers to different groups of union members at different universities continues to illustrate why we urgently need tripartite talks between the universities, the government, and TEU to address the issue of staff pay in the sector with a national approach. And why we will continue to stand together, work together, and make decisions collectively.”

Also in this update:

Other Stories:

Summer of discontent looms for undervalued university staff – Stuff

Auckland Uni students face arduous wait for final grades – One News

Low pay, rising costs push 48,000 University of California academic workers to the picket line – Los Angeles Times

Busting the myths about mātauranga Māori – The Spinoff