MEDIA RELEASE
20th May 2009
Unitec accused of discrimination against staff who are union members
Allied (non-teaching) staff at Unitec have slammed their management for what they view as discrimination against union
members.
Late last week, allied staff at Unitec, who are members of the Tertiary Institutes Allied Staff Association (TIASA),
rejected a proposal to settle their collective Agreement negotiations, as it was not equitable with what Unitec had
given non-union members.
“This matter could, and should be settled very easily, “said TIASA Chief Executive, Peter Joseph. “We have managed to
move Unitec to a position where they are now offering the same percentage increase as they had provided non-union
members but, they are wanting us to agree to a longer term for the agreement, whereas non-union staff can seek to
negotiate it again at the end of this year – that is not an equitable proposal”, he said.
Joseph said it was difficult to understand why Unitec management would embark on such destructive course. “ These are
loyal, hard working members of Unitec’s Staff, who also just happen to be union members”, he said. Unitec now claim that
they would not treat union members inequitably, but that is exactly what they have done since bargaining commenced”,
said Joseph.
TIASA members have picketed Unitec for the last two days and protests will escalate if the equity issue is not resolved.
TIASA Chief Executive, Peter Joseph has offered to meet with Unitec management urgently to continue discussions and
attempt to resolve the matter.
A brief history:
• TIASA negotiated bargaining in November 2008, and followed up with a draft Good Faith Bargaining Agreement which
included suggested dates in December for bargaining to commence.
• The collective agreement was due to expire on 31 December 2008.
• Unitec did not respond to TIASA’s correspondence although requested to on a number of occasions, until January
this year. They advised they were not able to commence bargaining until mid-February.
• Effective from 1 January 2009, non-union staff at Unitec, were given a 4% salary increase. They are able to
negotiate again in November.
• When the Unitec/TIASA negotiations commenced, Unitec advised they could/would not go beyond 2% for TIASA
members, but also wish to remove some current conditions relating to Easter Tuesday and Penal time. They claimed that
this stance was the result of Government and State Services Commission expectations for pay negotiations.
• TIASA members unanimously rejected Unitec’s position.
• TIASA referred the matter mediation – two working days before mediation was to take place, Unitec emailed a
“final offer” which amended their offer to 4% (same as non-union members) BUT, for a two year term with no salary
increase in the second year.
• TIASA responded saying that we could agree to the offer if the term was amended to one year – the same as
non-union members.
• Unitec’s response was no.
• Mediation failed to resolve the matter.
• As a result of telephone discussions between the parties, the last one was as a Stopwork meeting of TIASA
members to discuss their response to the failed mediation was taking place, Unitec amended their position. However it
still provided for a 21 month term – not one year.
• TIASA has yet to receive from Unitec a sensible rationale for not having the same term (i.e. one year) as
non-union members will enjoy.
• Unitec’s latest ‘final’ offer was unanimously rejected by TIASA members, and protest and industrial action is
now escalating.
ENDS