Fleur Fitzsimons NZUSA Co-President

Vice Chancellors and Government must avert university staff strike action

Students are today calling on Vice Chancellors and the Government to act quickly to avert university staff strike action plans by meeting staff pay claims.

"The Vice Chancellors need to make a decent pay offer to staff to stop disruptive strike action," said Fleur Fitzsimons, Co-President of the New Zealand University Students' Association (NZUSA) "University managers have an obligation to students to provide the right conditions for study - including fair pay for university staff."

Staff at universities have voted to take up to five day's strike action in support of pay claims and new national collective agreements for academic and general staff.

"The government and the universities will be to blame if strike action goes ahead. They must start to value university staff in New Zealand," said Fitzsimons.

"If the Government wants universities of a world class standard, they have to start putting their money where their mouth is and fund them properly," said Fitzsimons. "Students are keenly aware of the fact that staff at New Zealand universities are overworked and underpaid and support their claims for better pay and conditions."

ENDS

© Scoop Media