Industrial action at Whitireia

Media release
Industrial action at Whitireia

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week has seen industrial action at Whitireia Community Polytechnic by tutors belonging to the Tertiary Education Union (TEU). Around 100 out of a total of 300 teaching staff belong to this union, although there have been departures from TEU since industrial action began several weeks ago.

Chief Executive Don Campbell noted “this is not a good time for staff to be striking as students are seeking to complete their qualifications, undertake final assessments, getting ready for graduations and then to join the workforce. They need all the assistance they can get from staff at this time”.

Although problematic the organisation is coping and continuing to provide classes despite the disruption. “It looks by our numbers that TEU staff are increasingly turning up for work rather than striking, which is an option open to them. We appreciate a responsible approach despite the obvious difficulties and disagreement we are having as a multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) finding agreement with the TEU.

“At the heart of the problem is the unwillingness of the TEU to accept any change in what they regard as core conditions or that the world has changed from 25 years ago when the current agreement was established. Our economy is in recession, government borrowing to fund tertiary education is limited and in 2011 we will be facing significant cuts to our funding. Our viability as a tertiary institution will be eroded by any wage settlement which doesn’t produce productivity gains. This is all we are seeking but TEU seems to have it’s head in the past.”

TEU staff at Whitireia currently have 11 weeks leave a year, average salaries of $60,000, and are required to work on 185 days of the year.

“We are looking to increase the number of days worked without increasing overall workloads to give us a bit more flexibility and also to have some say over how a small portion of leave is used. This is not unreasonable in my view given the current situation and economic environment. If we are not able to make some savings through staff being a bit more flexible then there will be job losses in due course which is not in anyone’s interests at this time” said Mr Campbell.

ENDS

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