ASTE Workers Take Strike Action

Association of Staff in Tertiary Education
ASTE Te Hau Takitini o Aotearoa

ASTE Workers Take Strike Action

ASTE members who work for EastBay REAP (rural education activities programmes) based in Whakatāne (with bases in Ōpotiki and Kawerau) have told their employer that they will be taking strike action this week in an attempt to settle their collective agreement, their advocate, Jenny Chapman, field officer for the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education (ASTE) said today.

This action is unprecedented in this part of the ASTE membership. Ms Chapman made the comment that it is very difficult for workers in the community sector to take industrial action. “They work very closely in close-knit communities and this is not their preferred way of dealing with conflict, but they have been left in this position by the actions of this employer where they feel they have no other option.”

REAPs were set up with Government funding to service the community education needs of rural and more isolated communities. Ms Chapman said that the staff employed to coordinate and deliver REAP, PAFT, SKIP and Heartlands programmes and services are all professional staff who have come from backgrounds in other parts of the education sector as well as the health and social services sectors.

These are workers who have been in negotiations with their employer for around 18 months now and despite other REAPs throughout the country settling their agreements this employer is refusing to treat members fairly. “Her proposal would mean that some members would receive no pay increase at all, how is that fair?” Ms Chapman said.

She went on to say that EastBay REAP has a huge 1.6 million dollars in reserves. “Why a community organisation is amassing wealth at the expense of paying workers properly and offering the same terms of conditions to all staff is beyond us” Ms Chapman said. “All our members want is a fair deal in line with the way their colleagues in the rest of the country are treated”.

The employer at EastBay REAP is determined to ensure that all staff who are considered “non-core” will have significantly worse terms and conditions than the “core” staff in key areas. This includes not being included in the current pay scale, no redundancy pay or accumulation of sick leave. She went on to say that two thirds of members are considered by the employer as “non-core”.

The settlements reached elsewhere included significant compromises on the part of ASTE members, but Ms Chapman said that it was clear that even with these compromises this employer was not going to agree to settle a collective agreement. “It is unacceptable to our members that they should have to agree to terms and conditions in a collective agreement that are significantly inferior to those enjoyed by their colleagues in the sector.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media