Wintec Academic Staff want a fair return on their hard work

Academic staff who are members of the Tertiary Education Union at Wintec have unanimously voted to take strike action starting today. They will not be completing online attendance registers at any campus for the next four weeks.

In four months of collective agreement negotiations Wintec has failed to offer a pay rise that recognises the efforts staff put in every day. Members of the Tertiary Education Union know the only option is to take strike action. The impact on students will be less than the impact of academic staff not being paid fairly.

Tertiary Education Union Advocate for the negotiations, Megan Morris, says academic staff are the ones who are delivering strong results and high levels of student satisfaction at Wintec, but they feel their efforts are not being properly recognised by their employer.

“All they want is a fair return on the work they put in and the current offer of 1.3% for 2019 and 1.2% for 2020 is nowhere near that,” says Morris .

“Members are clear - it feels like a slap in the face when you’re taking responsibility for training nurses who care for people in life threatening moments, but are denied a 3% pay rise for both years. It feels like a slap in the face when you put in the hard work to train the plumbers and builders who are so desperately needed to address the housing shortage. It feels like a slap in the face when your employer doesn’t recognise the work you enough to pay you fairly.”

There will be a rally on Tuesday 16 July and time to talk to students about the impact of the collective action on them.

“The impact on students will be minimal if the employer steps up and comes back to the negotiations with a fair offer.” says Morris.

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