Volume 3, Number 1, July 2011

Northern Cavalry Arrives

TEU National Women’s Officer, Suzanne McNabb, has graciously agreed to

spend two days a week for the next month or four based out of TEU House

assisting our local Organisers with the TEU workload generated by the

post-earthquake environment, ongoing Change Proposals, subsequent

restructuring potential and such things as Delegate Training. The branch

appreciates the support given by our National Office and their recognition

of the current industrial climate down south.

Suzanne will be known to some Canterbury

University members from her earlier

involvement here particularly during the last

Arts restructuring exercise. She has already

organised and run a well-attended

Delegates’ training course for our local Reps

and Branch Committee. Sue will also be

advocating for our cleaner members at

Campus Living Villages to renew their

Collective Employment Agreement.

From the Branch President,

Megan Clayton

Although this is the

first newsletter of the

year, the events that

precede it have made

it among the busiest

for our members’

communication.

The earthquakes and their aftermath have

made email the mainstay of branch notices

for some time now, and I would like

sincerely to thank all the members who

have participated in the information

gathering the branch has done since

February.

Our challenges exist on two fronts now:

not only the ongoing processes of review

and restructuring in which TEU continues

to engage in order to advocate for its

members, but also threat of the loss of of

government funding support post-2012 for

our earthquake-affected institution.

All this occurs during a time when

members’ ability to do their work has, like

people all over the region, been

interrupted in the most profound and

wide-reaching of ways. The union slogan of

Tū Kotahi has had applications anticipated

by few.

This newsletter is an attempt to bring

some of the colour and even humour of

branch business to the attention of

members. The 2011 branch committee has

been as far flung by the earthquakes as the

wider membership, but has nonetheless

managed to complete the branch training

goals we set ourselves in mid-February,

with the delay of a few months.

Your organisers and representatives

remain available to you as ever. Please use

the contact information on the final page

of the newsletter if you have any questions

or queries about matters industrial,

professional or political.

PBRF

TEU National President Sandra Grey debates the issues associated with

the PBRF round and the effect of the earthquake on Canterbury academic

members. Biting their tongues as they await an opportunity to get their

two cents in are TEU Academic representatives Warwick Anderson and

Jack Heinemann. The concerns TEU has with the PBRF round are how best

to provide support and protection for our academic members affected by

the 2010-11 earthquakes in a manner that both indicates with reasonable

accuracy the effects suffered, does not cause undue hardship to carry out,

and above all supports equitable outcomes for members.

The process of consultation, lobbying and information sharing has been

complex but has had the effect of strengthening the connections between

the branch and national office (which has prepared TEU submissions to

TEC). It has also seen significant cooperation between the union and the

university in taking a position to the the Tertiary Education Commission

that best represents the regional situation.

2

From the Branch Photo Album

Ripeka Tamanui-Hurunui braves her chilly tent

office after the February visit of ‘Old Bucky’

rendered many campus offices uninhabitable.

In addition to her role as Māori Student Advisor,

Ripeka is the TEU Māori General Staff

representative

Aotahi Administrator-

Extraordinaire Christine

Deeming bedecked in her

colourful korowai at her recent

graduation ceremony.

The lonely vigil of a bizarre carpark protest. Some members go

to a lot of trouble and effort to make their views known. In the

finest traditions of ‘Critic & Conscience’ we found this mute

statement: “RIP - Education” emblazoned on a plastic

headstone amid a mound of fresh-dug loam. No one at TEU

House was game enough to prod about in the soil and uncover

who or what lay beneath… perhaps the stripped skeleton of

academic aspiration?

Green Member of Parliament David

Clendon and his Ngāpuhi work bag that so

impressed TEU Rep and child of the North Jo

Diamond. David met with Canterbury TEU

reps recently to discuss Government (lack

of) funding in tertiary education, the impact

of the earthquakes on the University and

our members and changes to industrial

legislation.

3

News from the Polytechnics

Christchurch Polytechnic bargaining is underway with

many clawbacks tabled by the employer. They include

employer control over four weeks of Discretionary

Leave that members use at their discretion after the

first two of years of employment. This is in addition to

their annual leave entitlements. The other major

clawback would dictate the average weekly duty time

at 40 hours per week instead of the current provisions

that allow the employer to require 34 or 36 hours duty

per week and being a salaried employee where most

members work well in excess of the hours required.

Tai Poutini Polytechnic have just learned that their

CEO’s five-year contract is not being renewed by their

Governing Council. (They typically are renewed for at

least a second term.) We believe this is a signal from

the Minister about how Government views the

number of ITPs in the Tertiary Sector. Bargaining is

also underway at this Institute. The employer claim

was a brand new simple and minimal document that

provided no protections for our members. We have

encouraged them to table claims that modify our

current CA rather than attempt a clean sweep.

Thankfully there was agreement to do so. We

continue bargaining in the second week of July.

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology

bargaining is about to get underway at the beginning

of August. We are expecting significant changes to be

tabled by the employer. It remains one of the South

Island Regional ITPs that is attempting to forge closer

alliances with Otago, Southland Aoraki and Tai Poutini

Polytechnics.

Small PTEs such as PEETO, Design and Arts College

and Christchurch Academy are all operating in

different locations around the city until, for the former

two, their premises in the Central City Red Zone are

assessed. The Academy is still operating from part of

its premises in Aberdeen St whilst repairs are

undertaken in the Manchester St Campus. The

students these members are dealing with have had

significant impacts on their home living situations as

well.

General Staff Day 2011

Regardless of the current high workloads and pressures

on Committee and Orgs, the Branch decided it should still

go ahead with recognising the supportive principles of

General Staff Day, albeit at a lower level of activity than

in previous years. Gaby’s delectable soup selections and

Paul’s superbly buttered slabs of bread roll provided the

substance behind the many General Staff members who

took the opportunity to call into TEU House. The day is

targeted at publicly recognising the key and supportive

role General staff play in the success of a University, and

based on the theory that behind excellent Academics

there are excellent General staff. TEU was proud to see

the many faces, some not until then known to us, who

called in and we hope to see them and others again soon.

We also note that the Deputy Vice Chancellor Ian Town

also made the effort to call in and record his appreciation

of General Staff contribution in person.

Says it all, really...

4

Collective Employment Agreements:

Variations settled and ratification

underway

With our Collective Agreements having a three-

year term (expiry June 2012) the TEU and the

other University unions negotiated variations to

the wording of our Agreements. The next wage

increase (due in January 2012) will be based on

the cost of living increase for the September

quarter and is looking like 5+%, for which the

University has already budgeted.

While there were no monetary-based claims,

positive improvements include supporting TEU

Māori and Pasifika delegates’ recognition,

reinforcing the pre-2007 Academic Staff

retirement scheme, Union rights clauses, a

working party on coverage clauses with a view to

trying to combine them into only two Collective

Agreements rather than the current five,

meaningful investigation and debate into

Campus gender equity, fixing errors/wording

within current agreements, and a commitment

to try and address the negative issues associated

with Fixed Term Agreements.

TEU Treaty Training – Te Tiriti o Waitangi

L to R: Presenter Jim Anglem, Mere Skerrett (College of Education), Dave Lane (Library), Anne-Marie Brady (College of

Arts), Di Gordon-Burns (College of Education), Gaby Moore (TEU Organiser), and Jennifer Middendorf (College of Arts).

It’s all in the way you say it

We have had the terms “redundancy”, “downsizing”, “severance”, “employee superfluity”, “an embarrassment of personnel

riches, “payroll padding”, and now we have VC Rod Carr’s latest quote from the University Council Minutes

“…That up to 50 staff redundancies out of 3000 staff in any year was a small level of staff turnover and

represented a philosophy of disinvesting to reinvest…”

We are sure all those ex-employees now feel a whole lot better seeing as they are simply interest by-products of an

investment philosophy.

Campus Living

Campus Living Village’s negotiations are due to start in

July. We understand well-respected Manager Darel Hall

has been promoted and a new manager appointed. Darel

has proven an asset to both TEU and CLV and will be

genuinely missed. In addition to a senior restructuring of

the company CLV have raised a claim in regards to

consolidating their Massey University CLV site Collective

into a single national Collective. The Service & Food

Workers will be the other party.

L to R Campus Living Cleaner Delegates Veronica Weeks and

Adrienne Croton, Arts’ Christian Long, VP Jennifer Middendorf,

with TEU Org Gaby Moore and President Megan Clayton.

5

Co-location and centralisation: the return of the repressed for administrators

TEU was disappointed once again to receive a

change proposal, this time from the College

of Education, in which the reduction of

administrative functions, together with their

centralisation into a co-located hub, was put

forward as a source of efficiency for the

college. For the branch, if not the individual

members, this is a case of déja-vû.

Co-location belies the specialisation of

administrative work within the university, and

in particular the ways in which programme

and service adminstrators provide tailored

and wide-ranging support for particular

programme needs.

Despite working in lower-banded roles with increasingly generic position descriptions, administrators

across the university possess knowledge and skills that have depth as well as breadth, freeing other

colleagues to do their own work efficiently. The TEU remains sceptical of arguments as to the

fungibility of administrative roles and will continue to argue for the necessity of the employer’s

recognition of the specificity of this work.

Who can join TEU?

From time to time the organisers and senior

representatives hear the persistent rumour that heads

of departments/schools and other staff who perform

line management roles cannot join the union.

This is incorrect. The only staff member of the

university who cannot join the TEU is the Vice-

Chancellor: the employer. Senior managers, middle

managers, staff on individual employment agreements,

staff on fixed-term agreements, casual staff, part-time

staff, academic year-only staff, post-docs, postgrads

and undergraduates who work at the university … all

can join.

So if you know of a colleague who would like to join

but thinks they are ineligible, then you can advise

them of the truth: that they can sign up at

http://teu.ac.nz/join or with a printed membership

form which can be sent to them via the internal mail

(email tertiaryunion@canterbury.ac.nz to request a

form). There are significant discounts for low-income

members and your colleagues can use

http://teu.ac.nz/join/subscriptions to calculate what

their fees might be.

Tū Kotahi: the TEU waiata

For use on all occasions!

Tū Kotahi

(Stand as one)

Tū Kaha

(Stand strong)

Tātou tātou e

(Everyone together)

Ngā piki; ngā heke

(In joy and sadness)

Tū Kotahi e

(Let’s stand together)

The TEU national website has links to audio

recordings of the waiata for your practising

convenience. The 2009 version is at:

http://teu.ac.nz/2009/07/tu-kotahi

and you can listen to the 2010 version sung by

members of Te Uepū (among whose voices

some Canterbury branch reps are audible)

here:

http://teu.posterous.com/tu-kotahi

6

Contact your organisers

UC Members ITP Sector

UC TEU Branch Officers

President Vice-President Secretary/Treasurer Megan Clayton Jennifer Middendorf Tim O’Sullivan

Bridging Programmes School of Humanities Central Library Lending Services

Extension 4931 Extension 6212 Extension 8826

Gabrielle Moore

021 190 2396

Extension 6485

tertiaryunion@canterbury.ac.nz

Paul Corliss

021 859 129

Extension 6288

paul.corliss@teu.ac.nz

Phil Dodds

027 44 99 422

Extension 6768

phil.dodds@teu.ac.nz

Consultation as some would like to

see it...

Māori & Pasifika - Positive aspects of CEA currently being ratified

The following clauses, provided the terms of settlement are ratified by members, will signal a most positive outcome for

University and TEU negotiators. Firmly pushed by the TEU, the employer’s willingness to so strongly acknowledge their

obligations and commitments in these two areas bodes well for future working relationships with Māori and Pasifika

members. All parties are to be congratulated.

“The parties affirm the principle of according high priority to maintaining and advancing a Te Tiriti o Waitangi

partnership at all levels within the University. In regards to Te Tiriti’s application to the principles underlying

Clause [H.10/H.9], the parties agree that aspects of this objective can be best attained by actively acknowledging

and effectively encouraging the key role played at TEU member level, and recognising the special and cultural

role, of the Te Toi Ahurangi/Te Uēpu representative.

The Employer will support paid participation of a Te Toi Ahurangi/Te Uēpu representative in branch and related

activity of the union within and beyond the workplace. The TEU will advise the Employer (in particular, the Senior

Management Team and PVCs) of the name and occupation of the approved representative. The TEU will also

consult with, and provide prior notice to, the Employer in regards to any meetings or demands that require the

input and/or presence of the TEU Māori representative.

The Employer will support paid participation of a nominated Pasifika representative in branch and related activity

of the union within and beyond the workplace as a means of acknowledging and effectively encouraging the key

role played at TEU member level, and recognising their special Pasifika cultural role. The TEU will advise the

Employer (in particular, the Senior Management Team and PVCs) of the name and occupation of the approved

representative. The TEU will also consult with, and provide prior notice to, the Employer in regards to any

meetings or demands that require the input and/or presence of the TEU Pasifika representative.”

TEU Delegate Training Underway Some 15 TEU representatives undertook a day’s

training under the expert tuition of Suzanne

McNabb. All reports have been very positive, even

from the ‘old stagers’ who all indicated that that in

addition to learning some valuable skills, they had

been reinvigorated by the enthusiasm of the newer,

and sometimes younger, delegates attending.

L to R: Pasifika General Staff rep Marion McNeill,

with cleaner Delegates Kay Duncan and Kelly Ellmers-

Brady