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[TEU-academic] ] TEU update

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Fri Sep 15 2023 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Tēnā koutou katoa

We are in the midst of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. Ka whakanuia e mātou te tino taonga o te reo me ngā tikanga o tō tātou tangata whenua. We recognise and celebrate the rich language and culture of our tangata whenua.

Apologies for formatting issues. I am in Day 151 of not having Outlook working properly... Day of Action: Kāpuia kia tapatahi | Strong education and training together. We thank members who turned out for our stop-work meeting. We thank our colleagues from AUT, Unitec, and Massey U (Albany) who travelled to be in solidarity. We note that ours was one of many events, at the same time across the country. All the other events were highly successful, according to reports received from branch leadership in other workplaces. Unfortunately coinciding with a more official but less well attended meeting (on the election, science and innovation), our meeting drew a crowd that filled most of the large theatre. We began with our TEU karakia but immediately picked up the live stream from VUW, at which National President Julie Douglas, National Secretary, Sandra Grey, and Jan Tinetti (Minister of Education) all spoke of the parlous situation confronting universities, their staff and their students. Switching to local, in-person discussion, candidates Camilla Belich from Labour, Chloe Swarbrick from Greens attended, spoke to their party positions and answered questions. A surprise arrival was Oscar Sims, Labour candidate for Auckland Central who we also gave the floor to speak. Takutai Tash Kemp from Te Pāti Māori confirmed but then was a late withdrawal. Right-of-centre parties were invited but could not be bothered with us, apparently. We placed empty seats, symbolic of their absence. We then had a 30+ min Q&A with members. Members spoke to the politicians with courtesy but also with deep anguish. The angst in the sector is real and it is deep. We will have to continue to fight to get our message across. It is a legal requirement that we now note: Authorised by Sandra Grey, 204 Willis Street, Wellington.

After the stop-work meeting, Branch committee member Tamsin Kingston wrote: “Yesterday evening I went to a local business association 'Meet the Candidates' meeting in Onehunga. Inspired by the passion I heard at our paid union meeting yesterday, I asked a question regarding how their parties were going to address the tertiary sector funding crisis. Their answers were pretty bland (they only had 1 minute to answer) but interesting just the same. Some were clearly better informed than others. At the networking afterwards I was able to speak to the Green Party and ACT Party candidates and a Labour minister. It was great to be able to directly address something that the ACT candidate had stated as a problem with tertiary education (she said that they would reduce the numbers of non-teaching staff) - she now understands what non-teaching staff do! It was also good to get a chance to speak about the crisis of funding that is facing the tertiary sector directly with people who may have a significant influence on our futures. I strongly encourage members to take up opportunities like this to interact with politicians and convey the importance of funding tertiary education appropriately.” That is great advice from Tamsin: Please find and attend local meet-the-candidates meetings in your electorate. Ask questions. Interrogate the candidates. Lay down the wero.

As an aside, in pre-meeting conversation, I asked our MP guests to estimate what proportion of current MPs have a tertiary degree. They thought that almost all do. So then I asked: so why do they not see the importance of tertiary education such that it is on the agenda during the campaign? Guess how they responded? Answer below*.

New Zealand funds public education at a rate 25% lower than OECD average - A new reporthttps://teu.ac.nz/news/aotearoa-education-spending-out-of-step/ jointly commissioned by TEU, NZEI and PPTA shows tertiary education funding has not kept up with other public expenditure, with countries like Canada and the UK, or even with the OECD average. This shows a long-term failure to value education. Julie Douglas, TEU National President, says, “While we would have liked the current government to do more, the right’s track record is worse and, if elected, National’s tax plan will result in even less money for education. If voters want a world-class education system, we must demand better from all the political parties.” Authorised by Sandra Grey, 204 Willis Street, Wellington.

Medical Academics. You should now have received an update on the situation with your remuneration from Nicole. There will be more updates on this next week.

Annual General Meeting. We have set our AGM for 1pm, 26 September in the Law School (801.204). Members should have received an invitation from Lucy Fowler today. Confirmation details will follow, and Lucy Fowler will send a calendar invite soon with nomination forms. Please consider standing for the Branch Committee. See previous weeks' Updates for details of the various roles and branch structure. Members can stand for any role for which they feel suited and to which they can apply their energies. Every branch role is up for re-election every year. It is a one-year commitment. The branch committee meets monthly. If you are interested in being involved with the work of the Branch Committee but not yet confident enough to pursue a named role, consider standing as a member at large. These members join the Branch Committee without a specific portfolio of work. It can be a useful way to learn how the branch operates.

Suffrage Day. The TEU will also be holding a special pay equity event on Suffrage Day, 19 September, from 12.30 – 1.30pm in the Federation Room of OGH. Women have had the vote in NZ for 130 years; now it’s time to stand for fair pay! The TEU will be launching our Pay Equity member videos. Come and hear colleagues from across the country speak to their experiences and chat about the claim, all over some food. All staff under the pay equity claim are invited, including non-members. All other members welcome, especially if you work closely with those staff who are under the claim.

Congratulations. Heartfelt congratulations to local TEU members who have been awarded recognition for their sustained, high-quality scholarship.

TEU's Rainbow/Te Kahukura network National Rainbow Hui a success. Recently our Branch had the opportunity to send multiple delegates down to the National Rainbow Hui in Pōneke | Wellington. Read more about the Hui in the TEU news item:

https://teu.ac.nz/news/proud-to-be-union-proud-to-be-queer/https://teu.ac.nz/news/proud-to-be-union-proud-to-be-queer/

and if you are interesting in joining the network, use the contact form on the Rainbow/Te Kahukura network page.

University of Auckland rainbow staff network’s upcoming event and how to join. Andy Fey, your rainbow rep would like to remind all members currently in the University of Auckland rainbow staff network, we have an upcoming network event for students and staff to connect and socialise as one community on 11 October. Please check your inboxes and RSVP by 25th September for catering purposes. If you wish to join the network mailing list, email with subject heading “Joining the rainbow staff network” to staffdiversityequityandinclusion@auckland.ac.nz. This subscribes you into the official mailing list and access to all future communications including any network events via Outlook. A reminder email will be sent out to the network shortly for the event, and this could be an excellent chance for new members to socialise with the network.

If only university rankings were honest: the UK example. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/what-would-honest-university-rankings-look-like/https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2023/09/11/what-would-honest-university-rankings-look-like/. Full version in Grayson and Grayson (2023). University quality, British league tables and student stakeholders. Quality in Higher Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13538322.2023.2235732

New HR buzzword. Soon to make an appearance, if it has not already. ‘Feedback’ Is Now Too Harsh. The New Word Is Feedforward - WSJhttps://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/companies-worker-management-feedback-feedforward-hr-9758d6a7

The 2023 Ig Nobel prizes have been announced. These awards celebrate unusual areas of research that “make people laugh, then think”. Reanimated spiders and smart toilets triumph at Ig Nobel prizes | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/14/reanimated-spiders-and-smart-toilets-triumph-at-ig-nobel-prizes, and Meet the winners of the 2023 Ig Nobel Prizes | Ars Technicahttps://arstechnica.com/science/2023/09/meet-the-winners-of-the-2023-ig-nobel-prizes/. I liked the speaking backwards research ‘ym/fles’.

Reminders:

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Barry Hughes, PhD School of Psychology

Phone: +64 9 923 5265 Extension: 85265

TEU Te Hautū Kahurangi, University of Auckland Branch Co-President (Academic). Join your unionhttps://teu.ac.nz/join!