Unitec Students Online

Unitec Lecturer’s aren’t that bad.

They should done it on weekends! How easy was that, look! now we need to catch up again.. gosh!

hard out would have been nice to know this was gunn hapn the day b4 or sumthin.. and wud like to know when i cn go bak??

i think they do need to let us know before hand i they say they do not want to interupt classes yet that is exactly whats going on without any notice to us students. i travel over an hour to get here each day and if i had known previously that they would be on strike i could have gone on a trip with my nephews kindy who couldnt go out because there was not enough supervision.

i think this is un-acceptable i understand that this is just what they have to do. however why not strike for a whole day or shut down a week early. most of us do not appreciate all the mucking around and if this continues i might just take early leave and not bother. its not worth the hassel to come in for maybe 1 or classes

So all the people that keep saying “they could have told us before hand” or “they should have done it on the weekend”, you are stupid. If they had done that then there wouldnt have been any point in striking.

i support the strike! its all about a fair go and getting what your worth. one day i could be in the same position fighting for a fair go!
pay up unitec stop being a tight ass!
but then if you cant fix the student village then i guess the lecturers are shit out of luck ae?

It’s okay going on a strike, it was for a reason the only disappointment was you should have told us earlier or even just a simple message/email to say hey we are going to be on a strike today/tomorrow, and then we will know and not come to class then.

If i fail some papers this semester, and don’t know why I know who to blame. :P

All students should be wearing red tomorrow to support those lecturers who work their butts off for you and are currently getting screwed over by Unitec management.

Solidarity.

Nah you’re wrong Arsh. Josef is right. Tru-fax.

no beef Arsh, far what a sad guy. I was praising you before. =[ whatever mangggggggggggggggggggggggggggg.

blah the list of infromation here you have presented is very big to mean much

Thank you nomiS, do I get internets?

I would say the holiday thing would be fair but seeing how they get 4 weeks annual leave, 5 weeks professional development (work related so should be told by Unitec) and 2 MORE weeks at the discretion of Unitec I can’t feel ENTIRELY sympathetic… what they are really complaining about is the fact that they don’t get to take those 2 weeks of Discretionary holiday whenever they want to, that Unitec has to approve it. That’s fair enough surely?? I’d call it a fair go… but hey, if they want to keep pushing for what they want all power to them, I’ll just enjoy my 2 weeks off thank you =P

the whole point was to get better for contracts for them so they can be better off but i recall one of my lectures said i am here to teach and you are here to learn how can learn if our lecture decide to go on strike how can i ask for help when they aren’t there how is that being helpful towards students the lecture think this is the best way what a bunch of idiot’s, how will this improve my learning how can get help on question i don’t understand, yes let them them strike and all that will happen is discontent from there student’s who they are here to help and prepare for the future aren’t they marvelous people.

I for one think a strike is pointless if all they do is hurt is hurt the students they are employed to teach, so as usual it all come down to money and the fact they(one’s striking) want they same as the one’s that aren’t in union. I’m pretty sure i see the same thing from a bunch of two year old kids fighting over a toy. Man they are showing maturity aren’t they.

It is really disappointing to read posts here because of the lack of knowledge of the clear links between the quality of salaries and conditions for academic satff and the quality of teaching students receive. Presently academic staff in NZ universities and other tertiary institutions runs at approximately 50% behind US and 30% behind Australia (adjusted for exchange rates). If NZ tertiary institutions are to be able to recruit high quality staff and provide high quality programs they need to be competitive with other english-speaking countries in terms of their ability to attract high quality teachers. The lifestyle of NZ alone is insufficient to attract good academic staff - they ha e student loans to pay off too!! USU has failed to show reasonable leadership within the student body at Unitec on these issues and has clearly failed in its responsibility to its members (the student body) in offerring a clearly reasoned analysis of the current situation. USU has certainly failed to show solidarity with TEU and offer informed reports on the issues at hand. A meeting with TEU is not necessary to do this - a quick internet scan will provide sufficient background detail on the current issues. Instead USU has made itself party to the ignorant outbursts in posts here. Tertiary education is not just about getting the piece of paper, it is about developing higher-level thinking skills and using them in all life issues. Use your brains people - stop whingeing about striking teachers and consider the ongoing quality of your own education if teachers continue to be offerred crap conditions of employment.

You got it Boomtastik! The management is effectively on a union-busting exercise. All the more reason for students to realise that their interests are supported if they stand in solidarity with the staff who are in the TEU.

I am disappointed to read the posted comments. I concur with Leslie Den Harder that as a student we need to appreciate the high quality of teaching staff and that they are only seeking what is considered to be a fair rate for their occupation. Let me put it this way, you could have a disgruntled lecturer who decides to go elsewhere to seek better remuneration and conditions and they are replaced with someone who is prepared to accept what package that Unitec is prepared to offer (most likely of an inferior calibre of teaching); you pay peanuts - you get monkeys! I think some lecturers could be better, but we could be a lot worse off. Would you want a lesser skilled surgeon operating on you?
However, it is important that if there is an impending strike that some kind of contingency plan is in place to assist students PARTICULARLY SO CLOSE TO EXAMS. Yes, students should have been informed beforehand (e.g. as in the bus strikes and Reesby buses stepped in to offer some services). Yesterday, I passed a student who class had been cancelled due to strike action and it was the last class before exams - that’s a pretty disconcerting situation! If strike action is expected to continue, the options offered by Unitec do not appear to be clearly identified which and how the exams will be affected. At this stage we have no idea what contingency plans are in place if union members decide to strike on the day of an exam. How is this any different from the bus driver’s strike (which was a lose-lose situation) and the Auckland City Council had to step in and threatened to pull the bus company’s contract which forced both parties to go back to the mediation table? As lecturers are academics (presumably with more intellingence than most) I sincerely hope they can come to a win-win situation QUICKLY!

Sorry, in my anxiety to ensure that I can offer a quick trade union education here I quite forgot to mention that TEU (Tertiary Education Union) is a single body that represents staff of all Universities and tertiary institutes in NZ. It negotiates a number of multi-employer collective agreements (MECAs) of which this is just one. The employer group in this particular MECA is a group of 6 well-funded (state subsidies and student fees) tertiary institutes which has significantly higher resources to run this dispute than TEU. Striking staff do not get paid. We, the student body, as their clients should be requiring a better level of service from them for our $$ than they are currently providing. They could minimise the impact of this action on us but they choose not to do so…

Is there Strike Action today for the trade school or wot?
Also - collect your f@#$cken MTA vouchers from cashiers - don’t stop till the barstards cough them up. Scream if you need to.

Fricken glad as hell I only signed up for one year for this bullshite! go TRADES ~!

Strike action is never at a good time for anyone - those taking the action and those who are inconvenienced by it. Teachers teach for pay and they don’t get paid while they are on strike. Striking lecturers have been continuing to put their notes on blackboard wherever this is possible for students who attend their courses.