SFWU condemns John Key's attacks on students

SFWU condemns John Key's attacks on students

The Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota says it is good to see John Key acknowledge that cleaners 'work their socks off' for low pay.

But SFWU members will not be impressed that his sympathy is being used to justify cuts to interest-free loan periods and increases in University fees, says SFWU Northern Regional Secretary Jill Ovens.

"The reason many of our members are working their socks off from midnight to six or eight in the morning is to support their children and extended family members through university.

"Student loans help make it possible for a young adult to continue with their education when otherwise it would have been financially impossible.

"For many of our members, the cost of supporting a child or family member to go to university means working two jobs, or couples working two different shifts, night and day, just to make ends meet. The suggestion that new migrants may have to wait two years to claim student loans would have a devastating effect on these families, who rate education very highly," says Jill Ovens.

The Union is also concerned about suggestions that the Government may consider removing the cap (or upper limit) on university fees for expensive courses like Medicine.

"The cost of education is already a barrier for many working class families, and allowing universities to increase fees higher and higher would price low income families out of education and create a two-tier education system, where only the wealthy can afford to go to university," says Jill Ovens.

"If John Key wants to help the low paid, he could scrap plans to increase GST. If more taxes are needed to fund tertiary education then why doesn't he increase taxes for the rich - who can afford it - rather than give them tax breaks."

ENDS

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