Strike action halts polytechnic classes

by Carly Udy | 4th November 2009

More classes at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic  were postponed today - as the latest round of  lightning strikes hit the tertiary institute.

Today was the second day of   strikes this week.

About 30 per cent of academic staff at the polytechnic are Tertiary Education Union (TEU) members and many have been protesting near the Windermere roundabout on State Highway 29.

Eight classes in both the Applied Technology and Business Schools were postponed yesterday and the same   number today. They will be rescheduled. 

Director academic at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, Dr Terry Fulljames, said as the strikes continued, TEU members were unavailable to teach some scheduled classes.

"Our management team have procedures in place to ensure there is minimal disruption," he said.

"We are making direct contact with students, and postponed classes and tutorials are being rescheduled.

"We are confident students will be able to complete their programmes of study," he said.

The polytechnic said it was in a difficult negotiating position.

Human resources manager Eve Steenson said one aspect of the dispute was salary increases.

"However, we are affected by government expectations that any salary increases in the public sector must be associated with productivity gains.

"This is what we are working through now in our negotiations and look forward to getting back to the negotiation table," she said.

Staff at six polytechnics throughout the country, including Bay of Plenty Polytech, went on strike in September and resumed industrial action this month, after mediation between them and their employers  failed to resolve the dispute.

About 950 union member academics have been in negotiations for nearly eight months, including over a week of industrial action and strikes and now two unsuccessful days of mediation.

Tertiary Education Union advocate Chan Dixon said that union members had worked hard with employers to try to resolve the negotiations, but the six polytechnics continue to insist on cuts to the academics' existing working conditions.

She said the polytechnics and institutes of technology were using the  existing environment to try to take working conditions away from people.

"This is disingenuous because the polytechnics actually have full enrolments and can afford to treat their staff better.

"We don't believe that the current offer is acceptable," she said.

Union members have removed all their claims from the negotiations, apart from a claim to improve the  existing 2 per cent-over-two-years pay offer.

 Effectively, they are now seeking  simply to not have their existing conditions cut.