Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato | University of Waikato has advised Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union members covered by today’s strike notice, in an email to staff sent after 6:30pm last night, that they will be issued with suspension notices applicable for the duration of the strike notice.

The strike is a three-day ban on entering and releasing student marks or course marks into any student management system commencing at 7am on Friday November 11 and due to end at 5pm on Tuesday November 15.

TEU Kaiwhakahaere | Organiser Shane Vugler says the strike will go ahead. “This is an aggressive move by the Vice Chancellor, to suspend striking staff for three days with no pay for a strike that would have only seen our members refuse to undertake a small part of their job. Instead they are now forced to withdraw all of their labour. Tactics such as these are rarely seen in the public sector.”

“Overnight, members have been expressing their shock and anger at this move.”

“What makes this even more outrageous is the sheer volume of additional hours our members have been working in recent times, which far outweigh the time they would have spent participating in this strike. Actions such as this might be designed to break our members but instead it will strengthen their resolve to continue pushing for a real pay rise.”

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