Auckland academics to protest distinguished alumni dinner

Auckland academics to protest distinguished alumni dinner

University of Auckland academics will be handing out leaflets and holding placards outside their university's Distinguished Alumni dinner tonight in protest at the university's failure to negotiate with its staff. Their protest is part of escalating industrial action by the academics to get their vice chancellor to listen to them.

Time: 5.45pm (the dinner starts at 6.15pm)
Venue: Alumni Marquee, Old Government House Lawn
Corner Waterloo Quadrant and Princes Street

The vice chancellor is trying to offer academics a 4 percent pay rise - but it comes with some big, and costly, forfeits. So academic members of the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) have rejected the offer and said they would rather have no pay rise at all than lose important conditions of work that enable them to do their job.

The vice chancellor is demanding academics move a number of core conditions that are crucial to academics doing their job out of their collective agreement and into policy over which they would have no control.

TEU national president Dr Sandra Grey says she is astonished that Auckland University’s vice chancellor is not listening when his own staff are saying they will turn down money so that they can do their job the best way they can, and give their students the best education they can.

"The core conditions being defended by academic staff are not privileges or perks – they relate directly to ensuring quality education and research at the university."