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Over 50 major tertiary restructurings in the past year

TEU members have highlighted a growing concern about the impact that an on-going cycle of restructurings, redundancies and funding cuts is having on the staff at the country's polytechnics.

TEU members used their annual conference in Wellington this week to draw attention to growing concerns about hundreds of reviews and restructures in the past year at tertiary education institutions  – including raising the issue several times with minister of education Steven Joyce.

Mr Joyce argued in his speech to the conference that the Government is funding more students than ever before.  But TEU's vice-presidents noted that, despite more students, polytechnics in particular are suffering from budget cuts that are forcing them to make significant redundancies.

TEU incoming national president Dr Sandra Grey said the biggest concern for tertiary education staff is  restructuring, saying that there were more than 50 major reviews in tertiary institutions this year as well as hundreds of other minor changes.

"There isn't an institution here which is not undergoing major restructuring. And this doesn't provide an environment where we can provide a good quality teaching and learning experience," Dr Grey told Radio New Zealand.

TEU vice-president for polytechnic general staff, Ken Laraman, told Radio New Zealand that is taking its toll on staff.

"I think exhaustion is the key word. I think we've struck a time where people are so exhausted from trying to increase productivity, work harder on less, trying to do much more with fewer resources – especially support resources – and the government, I don't think, has thought that through," said Mr Laraman.

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. Universities resist widening gender participation gap


2. Dairy worker sacked within 90 days for protecting a migrant worker


3. TEU calls for wider vision from Steven Joyce


4. Student membership bill passes another reading


5. Other news

Universities resist widening gender participation gap

The findings from the Biennial Census of Women’s Participation report released this week reveal that 'women’s low representation in senior management and governance roles continues to be systemic, dismal and embarrassing and remarkably resistant to economic cycles.'

"While the continuing slow economic recovery challenges everyone to rethink the way business is managed and governed, women continue to be shut out at governance level," according to Equal Employment Opportunity commissioner Judy McGregor.

Pay and Employment Equity Coalition spokesperson Angela McLeod said the report was particularly disheartening for women in the public sector, where there is clear evidence of widening in the gender pay gap.  

"The Human Rights Commission is doing a good job monitoring the gap but is working in a vacuum caused by government inaction," she said.

"The Government’s dismantling of the Pay and Employment Unit has derailed progress and is likely to have contributed to these results. We were seeing some good progress being made in the state sector. The effects of government abandoning this issue are now coming home to roost."

However Dr McGregor noted that universities are one area making steady progress for women at a time when improvements in other areas of professional and public life have stalled.

"University-led initiatives to improve women’s leadership and increase the number of senior academic women seeking promotion in New Zealand’s universities are having an impact. With the large numbers of female tertiary students, it is only reasonable to expect a relevant proportion of senior female staff."

The improvement however still leaves a long way to go: The country’s eight universities cracked the 20 percent mark overall for the first time, with women making up 22.45 per cent of professors and associate professors.

Dairy worker sacked within 90 days for protecting a migrant worker

A dairy worker and his family are the latest victims of summary dismissal under the 90-day fire at will law highlighted in another video released by the CTU.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous because of any impact on extended family, lost their jobs on a dairy farm as a result of standing up for a migrant co-worker who was being routinely abused by their employer. The family has since decided to move to Australia to pursue their careers in the dairy industry.

CTU secretary Peter Conway said:

"Despite being told on several occasions how well they were doing in the weeks before their dismissal, this couple were left without the option of testing the fairness of their sacking because of the 90 day law and have not even been informed of the reasons by their former employer."

"Challenging an employer's abusive behaviour towards a fellow worker would be at the very least a highly contestable cause of dismissal for an employee in any other circumstance. What makes it fair simply because they are in the first 90 days?"

"Unions have never argued that employers can't trial employees and dismiss them fairly if they are obviously not up to the job. But these weren’t untried, unreliable workers on the margins of the job market – they were mature, experienced and skilled workers in New Zealand’s core export industry. The 90 day fire at will law has caused two parents to lose jobs which they loved and were excelling at, and has uprooted the family and driven them out of the country."

TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs said the case was another example of how a law that claimed to be very targeted and specific was in fact hurting all workers.

"The government told us this law would get young people into work. In fact it has done the opposite - unemployment is worse than when the law was passed, and skilled, qualified, experienced workers with families and responsibilities are losing their jobs. It's a travesty of a law." 

The CTU has also released a further video telling the story of a chef who was sacked within 90 days for 'using too much aioli and sauce'.

TEU calls for wider vision from Steven Joyce

TEU's president elect Sandra Grey introduced herself to the minister of tertiary education Steven Joyce on Tuesday by asking him to widen his vision for tertiary education.  Minster Joyce had earlier given a speech in which he argued of the importance of tertiary education to the economic well-being to New Zealand.

Dr Grey asked Mr Joyce to extend his vision for tertiary education to include its role in building a strong citizenry and community, as well as a strong economy.

Mr Joyce told TEU delegates that he was focused on delivering more people with degrees and vocational qualifications, fewer young people falling through the cracks and greater transparency and accountability for public monies.

Dr Grey thanked Mr Joyce and said TEU members supported him in all of these goals but   expressed concern that government actions did not match the vision.

"We too want more people with degrees and vocational qualifications, and fewer young people falling through the cracks. But we are being undermined by the cutting of bridging courses and of course if the voluntary student membership bill passes that will undermine this goal."

"As taxpayers and people working in the sector we also want greater transparency and accountability for public monies.  However your government changed our governing bodies and made them less democratic and less answerable and connected to communities.  And your government has increased funding to PTEs even though these aren’t publicly accountable bodies."

"Also the on-going and continuous reviews and restructuring in our sector is making it hard for staff to be productive in anything other than review procedures."

You can listen to Mr Joyce's speech to TEU conference here and view Dr Grey's full reply here.

Student membership Bill passes another reading

The National and United Future parties voted  last night for a second time in favour of the Act Party sponsored voluntary student membership Bill for a second time.  The Bill, which an overwhelming majority of submissions from staff, students and institutions have opposed, now faces a final third reading before it becomes law.

The Green Party's tertiary education spokesperson Gareth Hughes last week asked the minister for tertiary education, Steven Joyce if he intends to increase the maximum amount borrowed under the course related costs category if the Bill passes to allow students to pay for their voluntary student membership fees through this student loan category without reducing other course related costs they may face?

Mr Joyce's reply, which was due on Tuesday, was not available at the time Tertiary Update went to print.

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan says the question cuts to the heart of the problem for tertiary education staff. 

"If students are not able to fund the services and the support their associations currently provide that means that tertiary institutions need to pay for them out of existing budgets.  That will either result in budget cuts in other areas of the institution or fewer services and less support for students, both of which ultimately make it harder to teach."

As the vote was taking place student leaders were making a plea to prime minister John Key to "step in and save over a century of student representation and services from the Act Party."

“Students are looking to John Key for his sensible leadership and pragmatism at this time. National has said it doesn’t want to destroy associations yet this is exactly what this Act Bill will do on many campuses,” said NZUSA co-president Pene Delaney.

There is mounting concern from students, universities, and polytechnics over the extra new costs this Bill will impose, as well as the future loss of services, student life, and student voice. Students and the rest of the tertiary education sector are worried that John Key and the Government do not fully understand the real and practical implications of this Bill.

Other news

A proposed 6.3% increase in tuition fees for most University of Otago students next year is too much, Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) president Harriet Geoghegan says. The university would lose $5.3 million next year because Government funding allocated temporarily to boost academic salaries had ended, and was expecting salary, consumables and building occupancy cost increases to be $12.5 million next year – Otago Daily Times

The number of international students enrolled to study in New Zealand is continuing to increase, says tertiary education minister Steven Joyce. Latest enrolment figures show an increase of nearly five percent for the first eight months of this year, compared to last. "The government is keen to work with providers to further improve the quality and scale of New Zealand's international education sector. International students currently make up around 13% of the student roll in New Zealand universities, compared to an average of more than 20% in Australian universities."

British student protesters smashed windows and waved flags from the roof of the building housing the Conservative party headquarters as the fringe of a vast rally against university funding cuts turned violent. The scale of the London protest defied expectations, with an estimated 50,000 turning out to vent their anger at government plans to raise tuition fees while cutting the state grant for university teaching – The Guardian

The government financial statements released today provide further evidence that the economy is stagnating, said CTU Economist and Policy Director Bill Rosenberg. “The Government should not use this financial result as a reason to cut back further on expenditure. Instead it needs to ensure that activity levels in the economy are maintained and boosted,” said Rosenberg.

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TEU Tertiary Update is published weekly on Thursdays and distributed freely to members of the Tertiary Education Union and others. You can subscribe to Tertiary Update by email or feed reader. Back issues are available on the TEU website. Direct inquiries should be made to Stephen Day, email: stephen.day@teu.ac.nz

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