Association of Staff in Tertiary Education
ASTE Te Hau Takitini o Aotearoa
MECA Settled at last!
At meetings across the country this week, members of the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education (ASTE Te Hau
Takitini o Aotearoa) from six Polytechnics and Institutes of Technology, voted overwhelmingly in favour of ratifying a
multi-employer collective agreement that will cover all their sites.
ASTE National President, Lloyd Woods said today, “This is a major achievement for ASTE and all of our members who have
participated in what has been a long drawn out process. We are all very pleased with the outcome as it proves that it is
possible and beneficial to negotiate common conditions across a number of employers”
He went on to say that despite the fact that the process had taken 23 days of face to face negotiations, significant
strike action and mediation to reach a satisfactory outcome, members believed it was worthwhile. “We are part of a
national teaching service and our conditions of work and rates of pay should be negotiated in a way that reflects this”,
Lloyd Woods said
He added that he hoped the Employment Relations Act would be amended to ensure that multi-employer bargaining becomes
the norm rather than something workers have to fight for before they can even begin talking about what will be in their
collective agreements.
ASTE believes that these employers having gone through this process will now see the benefits of a collective approach.
END