TEU Tertiary Update Vol 14 No 21

WITT-less polytechnic gang face growing opposition

A petition calling on the chief executives of Whitireia, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, NorthTec, Unitec and Wintec to start negotiating with their staff is drawing a steady stream of signatures since it was launched yesterday.

Since being abandoned by the Western Institute of Technology in Taranaki (WITT), which settled a collective agreement with its staff in a matter of hours and then went on to declare a record surplus, the five polytechnics have continued to stall and challenge legal rulings rather than negotiate fair collective agreements with their own staff.

However TEU members at the five polytechnics have now launchedReady2Go campaigns -including NorthTec where staff hosted a free barbecue for students and Whitireia, where nearly fifty staff sent a written invitation to their chief executive inviting him to come to the negotiation table.

The petition, which TEU members from universities, wānanga, polytechnics and other institutions around the country have been signing, calls on the five chief executives to negotiate a site-based collective agreement with the union members on their site for the good of their students, and for the good of education.

You can sign the petition here.

In other news, TEU made an official information request to each of the five polytechnics asking for how much public money they have spend on legal fees and consultants in their attempt to avoid bargaining site-based agreements with TEU. Unitec has subsequently responded by refusing to provide this information on the grounds that it would unnecessarily prejudice its commercial position.

Also in Tertiary Update this week

1. Exam time earthquakes create more uncertainty
2. Whitireia and Weltec want one-stop wellyshop
3. Cashing up annual leave
4. Interest-free loans for economically important courses
5. Equity support for refugee students
6. Other news

Exam time earthquakes create more uncertainty

Further earthquakes, this time in the midst of exams for many students and staff, have shaken Christchurch and its many tertiary institutions. The University of Canterbury was still working last night to assess the structural integrity of all its buildings and was in the process of rescheduling and relocating many exams. The vice-chancellor reported that "Overall, barring the unexpected, we are on track to full operations by Monday 20 June." He also says that all University of Canterbury students will automatically be eligible for an aegrotat assessment.

Lincoln University closed on Tuesday but reopened yesterday after engineers said they could not find any structural issues. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa's Otautahi courses are closed all this week. Aoraki and Te Tai Poutini Polytechnics reopened their Christchurch buildings yesterday.

Meanwhile, TEU national president, Dr Sandra Grey said that, given the on-going earthquakes in Christchurch, it was time for the government to let the local tertiary institutions know what it was going to do to support them next year.

"Students and staff are doing an incredible job making do in very trying circumstances. But we need to assure those staff and students that there will be new funding and support for the next few years while that rebuilding continues."

Whitireia and Weltec want one-stop wellyshop

Whitireia NZ and Weltec intend to create a combined council to govern them both.

However, Roger Sowry, who is already chair of both polytechnic councils, says that the two institutions are not merging, but operating as a strategic partnership.

"This journey started with Weltec and Whitireia exploring a range of options for working more closely together to benefit students, the community and industry, and to support the economic development of the Wellington region," Mr Sowry said.

Mr Sowry says that this strategic partnership includes the establishment of a common Academic Board and a Shared Services Centre to provide infrastructure and support services (like information technology, enrolment, payroll and libraries) for the two Institutions.

Mr Sowry told Newswire that the proposal may save $2 million a year, and will mean some overlapping courses will be "rationalised".

Each Institution will however continue to be managed by their own chief executives and executive teams. The two polytechnics are now seeking feedback on the proposal and will be consulting until 31 July. The consultation document and feedback form is available on Weltec and Whitireia’s websites or by calling the institutions.

TEU National President Dr Sandra Grey says that TEU will be making sure staff voices are heard during the consultation process.

"The Greater Wellington region is actually a number of distinct but large communities, including the Porirua basin and the Hutt Valley which Whitireia and Weltec have successfully served for decades. We are not opposing change but one of the most important outcomes in this not-quite-merger is that the needs of those two individual local communities are respected. It would be a shame if in the drive for what Mr Sowry refers to as a 'one-stop shop for industry' local people in their local communities lost their local polytechnics."

Cashing up annual leave

TEU council voted last week to encourage members to plan for and take their annual leave as they become entitled to it rather than cash some of it up as they are now entitled to under the law.

TEU National President Dr Sandra Grey said this policy decision responds to the government’s new law that lets employers buy one week of annual leave off their staff.

"From 1 April, all our members are able to ask their employer to pay out in cash up to one week of their annual leave entitlement a year unless the employer has established a policy that does not provide for this to happen."

"Annual leave is an important entitlement that allows for sufficient rest and recreation for workers. But the ability to sell one of their four weeks of annual leave that they are entitled to under statute undermines this."

Dr Grey says cashing up leave for money also undermines family-friendly workplaces.

"Obviously everyone has individual circumstances and we are not going to tell people what they can and cannot do. But, if members feel the need to sell leave to make ends meet then the union needs to raise with the employer the adequacy of the pay rates."

"The problem is, when we start trading important conditions, such as holidays, for money, it might mean some cash in the hand, but in the long-term the conditions are still gone and the value of the money whittles away."

'Four week's annual leave is important for health safety and well-being. If it is shaved back by cash in the hand buy-outs families, friends and communities will suffer."

"Where members already have a large amount of annual leave accrued, we can be deal with this on a case-by-case basis" she said.

Interest-free loans for economically important courses

Following its announcement last week that the government should only provide interest-free loans to students who do courses that benefit the economy KPMG revealed this week that it also believes that graduates who have subsequently misused their education and failed to benefit the economy should be charged retrospective interest.

KPMG head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot told Tertiary Update's Paki Taunuhia that KPMG was subsequently writing a cheque for the government representing the unrealised positive contribution to the economy from its own accountants and lawyers.

"Obviously our proposed policy of offering interest-free loans on to those students who study worthwhile courses is all about picking winners," said Mr Proudfoot. "But, like any gamble, sometimes your 'sure thing' doesn't win the derby. Who, for instance, would have foreseen that John Key, with his B. Com, would spend his time selling state assets and undermining important economic drivers like tertiary education? Clearly, there's room there for the public to be demanding a refund on that tertiary education investment."

Mr Proudfoot last week told the Dominion Post it was time to discuss targeting the loans scheme at "areas where graduates can add real value to the economy quickly", such as agricultural sciences, agribusiness, horticulture, viticulture, biochemistry and international marketing.

Asked later by Paki Taunuhia whether his role as KPMG's head of agribusiness influenced in any way which tertiary education courses he saw as most important Mr Proudfoot noted that he had also chosen international marketing as a valuable topic.

"You can see the economic value skilled people in this area have already brought to New Zealand through their contribution of ideas such as Auckland's plastic waka and Wellington’s Wellywood sign."

Equity support for refugee students

A campaign to have refugee-background students recognised as an equity group at universities and polytechnics will be launched by refugee rights group, Changemakers Refugee Forum next week on World Refugee Day.

The campaign is a call to recognise that people from refugee backgrounds are candidates for equity recognition and thus get equity funding support.

Mohammad Ali Amiri – who will be one of four panel speakers at the launch – arrived in New Zealand in 2004 when he was 27 years old.

"I always dreamed to study since I was a child, but as a result of war and bad economy, I never had the chance. I had to work hard to support my family. But since I came to New Zealand, my dream came true and I got the chance to study, even if I had to work fulltime to support my family. Even sleep couldn’t stop me studying – I had only three to four hours sleep a day. But this year I couldn’t continue with my study as a result of government cuts to the study grant for refugees."

"People from refugee backgrounds need government support towards education so they could stand on their own feet and help this country to grow."

Much like those from Pasifika communities – an established equity group – people from refugee backgrounds must navigate a series of hurdles before they are accepted to study at tertiary level.

The measures that are used to go some way towards assisting them are gone, including the removal of supports such as the Refugee Study Grants, which provided a vital bridge into tertiary education for many refugees resettling here; adult education classes, also a building block into further education; and other entitlements to training opportunities.

Compounding the impact of these cuts is the lack of equity recognition, which makes it impossible for refugee-background students to access any of the special measures afforded to officially-recognised equity groups, such as scholarships, tutoring, mentoring and the provision of cultural liaison staff.

Other news

WITT had reason to celebrate last week as it coupled a graduation with the announcement of a record revenue surplus of nearly $3 milion. Chief executive Richard Handley thanked staff for their contribution to this. This comes after years of trying to claw back from a dire financial situation – Taranaki Daily News

Rather than cutting wage rates, for which there is scant evidence of employment benefits, we should be improving education, training and employment pathways. Are caps on tertiary enrolments and policies discouraging tertiary institutions from increasing their level 1-to-3 certificate enrolments - both also introduced in 2008 - disadvantaging ... young people? - Dr Bill Rosenberg in the Dominion Post

In just 15 years, expenditure on research in Australian universities has more than doubled and now accounts for 63 percent of all spending. And 28 out of 36 universities could now be classified as research-intensive, given they spend more than 50 percent of revenue on research activities - The Australian

The NSW government will need to consider opening up its TAFE system to full private competition, but there is no concrete proposal at this stage. Last month's federal budget promised an additional AU$1.75 billion from next year to jurisdictions prepared to sign up to a more ambitious and market-oriented reform of their respective public training systems - The Australian

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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