TEU Tertiary Update Vol 14 No 22

Judges tell polytechnics to get Ready2Go

The Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that five polytechnics must bargain site-based collective agreements with their staff members who are union members. The five polytechnics – NorthTec, Unitec, Wintec, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and Whitireia – had refused to bargain site-based agreements after union members voted in February that was the type of collective agreement they wanted, and not a multi-employer agreement as the employers wanted.

The decision is another major legal victory for TEU members, who have been vindicated by the courts virtually every time they have had to contest a point of law with these five employers.

TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs said belonging to a large national union means these members are able employ the best possible legal representation and to take their employers in the highest courts.

"We have been able to do that" she said, "but it begs the question as to how these employers can justify the use of significant amounts of tax payers’ money on legal fees pursuing this issue."

"The decision confirms what TEU members had always believed – that they should not be made to negotiate a collective agreement in a form that they did not want. "

"Our members can finally get on with the important business of negotiating a collective agreement. They just want what members at WITT recently got - a fair pay rise and no loss of core working conditions."

TEU members are continuing to sign a petition, already signed by over 500, calling on the employers at the five polytechnics to put aside their costly legal challenges and negotiate a collective employment agreement on their site.

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. Public tertiary institutions employ private lobbyist
2. Tertiary education costs rise dramatically
3. Engineers needed to build ultra-fast broadband
4. Commission sets research targets
5. Other news

Public tertiary institutions employ private lobbyist

A long queue of publicly funded tertiary education institutions and organisations are, or have recently been employing the services of private lobbying and consultancy company Saunders Unsworth.

Saunders Unsworth lists among its past and present clients Massey University, Otago University, the Metro Polytechnics, Victoria University of Wellington, and the Industry Training Federation.

Weltec was recently required to disclose the Metro Polytechnics’ fee to Saunders Unsworth ($33,000) in its Annual Report because its government appointed chairperson, Roger Sowry, is also a partner at Saunders Unsworth. Mr Sowry is also the government appointed chairperson at Whitireia polytechnic and a former National Party minister.

Tertiary Update wrote to the Minister of Tertiary Education asking if he believes it is necessary for publicly funded tertiary education institutions to engage the services of a private lobbying agency such as Saunders Unsworth in order to share their views with him as their relevant minister. We also asked if he believes that publicly funded tertiary education institutions that hire a private lobbying company get any better access to him as a minister, or more influence than other tertiary institutions that do not employ such an agency?

A spokesperson from Mr Joyce's office replied that the Minister meets with a wide range of stakeholders.

"While tertiary institutions receive government funding for student places, they are autonomous organisations who make their own financial decisions."

Tertiary education costs rise dramatically

Consumer Price Index figures released this week show the cost of tertiary education recording its highest rise since at least 2004. Figures from the Statistics New Zealand website, which extend back to 2004 show that the cost of tertiary education rose this year by 6.4 percent. That is the same amount that the cost of tertiary education rose last year. Prior to that Statistics New Zealand only recorded rises of less than 5 percent. The current annual maximum fee movement, as legislated by the government, is 4 percent except for courses that have fees of less than $444 per year.

Statistics New Zealand records that the education group (including early childhood and compulsory education as well as tertiary education) rose 5.7 percent in the March 2011 quarter, the largest quarterly increase since a 7.7 percent rise in the March 2000 quarter.

It notes that higher tertiary education fees made the most significant contribution to the rise reflecting higher course fees, higher compulsory charges set by the universities, and the GST rise.

TEU national president Dr Sandra Grey says that sharply escalating fees are a result of government cuts.

"Treasury figures show that the government is putting less money into tertiary education every year for the next four years. Institutions are simply turning to their other sources of income. That's what students have become – another source of income. The shame for students is that rapidly rising fees is no guarantee of better quality education because all their money is being used to patch holes in the system that the government is creating."

"If fees keep rising we risk excluding some potential students from the opportunity to learn. The cost will put some off studying - especially when the government cuts down on the ability to borrow at the same time."

Engineers needed to build ultra-fast broadband

Industry training standards body ETITO and the engineers' union EPMU are both questioning the country’s supply of skilled workers to service and maintain the government’s planned fibre optic networks. ETITO, which sets the qualification standards for telecommunications workers, says that industry needs to think about training people now rather than waiting until they are needed.

Ironically, in the last year, a number of polytechnics around New Zealand have made electrical engineering tutors redundant including NorthTec, MIT, Weltec and SIT.

"We can't quantify the inevitable spike in demand for cablers and cable-jointers until [network companies] start hiring and training," ETITO corporate relations manager Michael Frampton told the New Zealand Herald, "but certainly anecdotal feedback from training providers indicates that the industry is very much relying on its ability to train people quickly when the demand presents."

However, Communications Minister Steven Joyce said there was no immediate skill shortage and funding for more training could be made available by the Tertiary Education Commission if required.

The ultra-fast broadband scheme and rural broadband initiative are to be rolled out over the next eight years and will need to be built and upgraded by engineers with a specialised knowledge of fibre optic cables.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little is concerned that without an adequate supply of trained workers Telecom through its maintenance arm Chorus will recruit cheap, foreign labour to build its planned fibre optic networks. Chorus has won the first contracts to build the networks.

"This kind of project is a great opportunity to create jobs for New Zealand workers and invest in our local skills base”, said Mr Little. "Any sensible government would want to make sure that this expertise stays in New Zealand."

Telecom's lines arm, Chorus, will build most of the network but refused to tell the New Zealand Herald if it had enough skilled workers to roll out the fibre cables.

Commission sets research targets

The Tertiary Education Commission's recently released Statement of Intent 2011/12 - 2013/14 sets a series of research outcome targets for tertiary institutions that will place increasing pressure on New Zealand's tertiary education research institutions.

Taking its cue from the government's tertiary education strategy, which places significant emphasis on research that supports businesses to grow economically, the commission is imposing a series of outcome targets on research institutions that will get progressively tougher over the next three years. For instance, the commission wants external research income, measured by the income generated by the tertiary education organisations participating in the PBRF, to grow from $411 million in 2009 to $444 million next year (up 8 percent) and then $500 million by 2014 (up another 13 percent).

The commission also wants the number of staff in tertiary education organisations undertaking research of a world-class standard (e.g. the percentage of the PBRF eligible staff Evidence Portfolios assigned an "A" Quality Category by a peer review panel) to grow from its 2006 measurement of 10.9 percent to 12 percent next year. This measure had already increased from its 2006 mark of 5.7 percent.

These targeted increases in productivity sit beside a budget that offers no increase in the current PBRF funding of $250 million.

Other news

The Pay Equity Challenge, a coalition of business and community groups and unions, is welcoming Catherine Delahunty’s new Equal Pay Bill as an effective  way of dealing to the wage gap between men’s and women’s pay. "This bill modernises our approach to equal pay, and will help to give women the information they need to ensure that they are being paid fairly," said coalition spokesperson Rebecca Matthews.

Massey University has decided not to appeal an Employment Court ruling that requires it to share information with staff whom it chooses to dismiss or make redundant during a restructuring process.

About 14,000 final-year students from across New Zealand’s eight universities will be surveyed this year – and again in two, five and 10 years’ time. Commissioned by Universities New Zealand and supported by government funding, the study aims to determine the ongoing impact of a tertiary education on graduates’ lives - Universities New Zealand.

When South Korea's governing party revived a plan to "halve" tuition fees and supply extra public funding for students, it might have expected a warm welcome from an education-focused society with one of the highest university participation rates in the world. Instead, it served only to exacerbate existing discontent over high fees. Students from about 400 institutions joined a strike last week, taking to the streets instead of attending classes - Time Higher Education Supplement.

A European university group has unleashed a damning assessment of the most popular university rankings, claiming they ignore up to 99 per cent of the world's 17,000-odd universities and incite some to manipulate or even misrepresent data. It says the best-known global rankings discourage diversity, with the top 500 place getters essentially pre-determined - 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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