Otago Uni TEU strike on the cards over pay

STAFF at the University of Otago are considering strike action as they push to keep pay in step with inflation.

Members of the university branch of the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) will hold a stopwork meeting tomorrow to consider the university’s current pay offer.

This is part of TEU bargaining taking place nationwide — negotiations to renew eight university collective agreements throughout New Zealand started in July this year.

Branch president Craig Marshall said previous meetings indicated most people were not satisfied with the present offer, with the impacts of Covid19 and high work loads taking their toll as the cost of living increased.

He would not reveal what staff have been offered as negotiations were ongoing.

Staff wanted an offer matching inflation levels, which were around 7%, he said.

‘‘The offers that we have got are somewhat below that.’’

The TEU released a report last month criticising underinvestment in staff nationally.

Salaries had not kept pace with inflation — average salaries at the University of Otago had fallen by 10% in real terms between 2008 and 2020, the report said.

However, Universities New Zealand chief executive Chris Whelan said New Zealand universities had kept pace with earnings across the rest of the country’s labour force.

Dr Marshall said the union not only wanted more money, but also recognition by the Government the tertiary sector was not sufficiently funded.

‘‘Our issue is primarily with the Government—tertiary sector funding has not kept pace with inflation over the last decade or more,’’ he said.

The stopwork meeting was for union members, who numbered about 1100, to consider the offer and discuss their next steps.

‘‘We will be considering different kinds of industrial action.’’

Any course of action would be decided by vote and there were a number of options available, from strike action to ‘‘not completing certain duties’’.

The timing of any course of action would also be considered at the meeting, he said.

A University of Otago spokesman said as the university was in the early stages of the bargaining process, it would be inappropriate to comment.