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Three pay rises and a lump sum for WITT members

The Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki (WITT) and TEU members have ratified a collective agreement that will give the union members a 0.75 percent pay rise effective from December last year, a further 2 percent pay rise from February this year, a pro rata lump sum payment of $400, and then another 1.75 percent pay rise on 1 December this year. The agreement, which expires in November 2012, will be the first of a series of site-based agreements at the six ex-MECA institutes of technology which had previously been mired in industrial action, legal cases and unsuccessful negotiations.

TEU members will receive the back pay and new salary rate on 3 May.  WITT has also agreed to a delay of three months from 3 May before passing this salary increase on to non-union members, and a further three-month delay again for the 1 December 2010 pay rise.

WITT and TEU also agreed to establish a working party to assess the current WITT salary scales with similar sized polytechnics.

TEU members at the five other polytechnics - Unitec, NorthTec, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, Whitireia and Wintec - have taken hope from the quick, amiable and efficient way that WITT managed to conclude negotiations with TEU members.

TEU national industrial officer Irena Brorens says the settlement shows WITT values its union members and the contribution they make the institution. 

"Having seen the good result at WITT members at the other five ex- MECA polytechnics are excited about the opportunity of working togetehr to negotiate new collective agreements at their branches too," said Ms Brorens.

Also in Tertiary Update this week

1. TEU wins major case for restructured academics


2. 20,000 new students with no extra funding


3. Industrial action at Natcoll today


4. Govt crackdown on older students


5. International education bill will need to consider kiwi students too


6. Other news

TEU wins major case for restructured academics

Earlier this week the Employment Court issued a long-awaited decision in favour of two respected Massey University academics and TEU members, Martin Wrigley and Terry Kelly.

Both were dismissed following a “selection process” which involved the university choosing which academics to keep, and which to dismiss. The decision directly challenges widespread selection processes in the tertiary education sector. It confers significant power on employees facing dismissal, previously denied to them.

The legal issue was about the requirements of natural justice - what information were the academics entitled to have (and comment on) before they were dismissed? 

The Employment Relations Act requires an employer to give employees access to information about a proposal to dismiss, and an opportunity to comment on it before a decision is made. The University had provided Mr Wrigley and Dr Kelly some relevant documents but not others.  It withheld information in documents which compared the various academics, one to the others. It also did not provide information about the views each panel member formed about the candidates; their assessment of the various candidates’ strengths and weaknesses; and the views of the final decision makers and the reasons for those. Accordingly, the academics did not have an opportunity to comment on all of those matters before being chosen for dismissal.

The court found that the disputed documents were relevant and thus, prima facie, disclosable.  It also held that while the information was confidential, the privacy interest in this case was outweighed by the need for fairness.   

TEU deputy secretary Nanette Cormack said the ruling was the outcome of hard work by TEU's highly experienced and regarded legal counsel.

"One of the benefits of belonging to a union like TEU is access to dedicated employment law specialists, that would cost individuals thousands of dollars more than their TEU membership fees," said Ms Cormack. This case sets a good precedent for all TEU members.

20,000 new students with no extra funding

"We've made some changes in the last two years that have resulted in an additional 20,000 places at universities and polytechs and the like without putting any more money in," tertiary education minister Steven Joyce told TVNZ's Q&A programme on the weekend.

However TEU president Sandra Grey says that's not something to be proud of.

"It's the equivalent of someone proudly telling you they are driving their car many more miles without ever changing the oil. They might be saving money in the short term - but they are not left with a valuable asset for the future - instead they are heading for a major breakdown."

"New Zealand has a great tertiary education system, and it is testament to the high calibre of the people in the system that they have been able to absorb an extra 20,000 students without any additional funding support. But Mr Joyce's approach is simply not a sustainable way to run a high quality public tertiary education system."

Industrial action at Natcoll today

TEU members at Natcoll's Wellington campus are taking industrial action today because their employer is still refusing to offer them a pay rise, nine months after their last collective agreement expired.

Natcoll is owned by publicly-listed company Renaissance. The members are seeking a three percent pay-rise which they believe that Renaissance is well able to afford.

Natcoll has a projected profit for January to June 2011 of $789,000.

TEU organiser Phil Dyhrberg says class sizes and thus productivity are well up.

"Student numbers are full to overflowing, and TEU members deserve a pay rise."

Mr Dyhrberg says TEU membership at Natcoll's Wellington campus has grown from about 30 percent to 90 percent in recent months.

"Renaissance is a large viable company. Its staff work hard and deserve better than a zero pay offer. It's really exciting to see new staff joining the union and working to make their job better for everyone," said Mr Dyhrberg.

Govt crackdown on older students

The minister of tertiary education Steven Joyce has signalled that next month’s budget will limit the ability of students over the age of 55 to borrow living costs while they study.

He told TVNZ that about 70 percent of the money students over the age of 55 borrow gets written off by the government "so we are looking at some things around that. I think we always want to be able to provide some access, so for perhaps borrowing for fees, but borrowing for living costs and borrowing for the compulsory course costs is not necessarily where we want to be."

For many students in this age bracket, who are already ineligible for a student allowance, this may mean they are unable to study, as they will have no access to living expenses.  This will be particularly hard for older workers who are up-skilling after losing their job or suffering from age discrimination in the workplace.

David Do, president of the New Zealand Union of Students Associations (NZUSA) says the government is "picking on the elderly".

"We think this is very unfair. We believe every student, old or young, should be able to access the same financial support," Mr Do told TVNZ's Breakfast.

"The government should explain why it should discriminate on the basis of age."

Do said many of the students who would be affected are trying to retrain to improve their job prospects.

"Essentially this is a short-sighted cost-cutting exercise that picks on the elderly," Mr Do said.

International education bill will need to consider kiwi students too

Parliament needs to consider the relationship between domestic and international students as it works its way through the Education Amendment Bill No 4, says TEU national president Sandra Grey.

The Ministry of Education is projecting, with the help of a new crown agency, the number of international students in polytechnics and universities triple by 2025. 

"It is great to have international students in our classrooms, as they provide useful insights and learning for our students, classes, and communities, but there have been problems with the financial stability of tertiary institutions that can become overly dependent on the income they generate from international students," said Dr Grey. "This speaks to the need to have some cap in terms of the proportion of international fee paying students at each institution it seems."

Currently the bill itself does not outline a strategy as to how rapidly growing our international student market might support the provision of education to domestic students.  Yet domestic students are, on average, more likely to stay here and contribute their skills and knowledge to the skills shortages in their communities.

"The concern is that a great influx of international students will be at the expense of domestic students, in particular those that may face barriers to entering tertiary education, or alternatively will simply be added workload for staff."

However, Dr Grey says there could be some immediate financial benefits from the Bill.

"It would be fantastic to have a new Crown entity if it meant individual institutions stopped sending their vice-chancellors, chief executives and other luminaries oversees to tout for business."

Other news

TEU TV sends twins Janine and Joan out to find out if joining the Tertiary Education Union is value for money - YouTube

The Chair of the Board of Commissioners at the Tertiary Education Commission, Sir Wira Gardiner has welcomed the appointment of Belinda Clark as the Commission's new Chief Executive. “Ms Clark is currently the Secretary for Justice and Chief Executive of the Ministry of Justice, and I am delighted that the Board has the opportunity to appoint such a high quality Chief Executive,” said Sir Wira.

"Soaring prices from the GST increase plus steep increases in some necessities like food and fuel are another blow to workers already suffering from stagnating wages, high unemployment and attacks on their rights at work. They highlight the unsustainability of low wage levels in this country" said CTU President Helen Kelly in response to this week's announcement of a 4.5 percent increase to the Consumer Price Index.

On the day of the deadline for British universities to submit their proposed new tuition fees, the University and College Union (UCU) said the clear trend to charge the full £9,000 or very close to that figure, proved the government's higher education funding policy is in disarray. The government claimed that only in 'exceptional circumstances' would universities charge more than £6,000 a year. But, to date, a survey of 71 institutions found that at least two-thirds of institutions want to charge the full fee for all or some of their courses, as they look to plug the funding gap created by huge cuts to teaching budgets.

Poor university entrance rates among Pacific Island pupils have prompted calls for a national strategy to address their under-performance. NCEA results show that the number of pacific islanders who achieved university entrance in year 13 last year was lower than in 2009 - Dominion Post

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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.

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