Staff from all of the country's eight universities will go on strike tomorrow, with Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union members wanting an 8% pay increase to equal the rising cost of living.
Two weeks ago, on September 21, saw union members attend a series of paid two-hour union meetings where a near-unanimous decision (87% of TEU members) called for university sector-wide strike action ballots to be held for 18 collective agreements.
Negotiations between TEU members, including E Tū and PSA union members and universities have continued since July this year.
The TEU's most recent state of the sector survey, completed by over 3,000 people between March and April, showed over 50% of academic staff members were either dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied with how accurately their pay reflected the number of hours they put in.
Meanwhile, more than 50% of university general staff were either dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied with how accurately their pay reflected the type of job they do.
The strikes will be held at the University of Auckland, AUT (Auckland University of Technology), University of Waikato, Massey University, Victoria University of Wellington, Canterbury University, Lincoln University and the University of Otago nationwide.
Universities' staff will be striking between one and four hours. AUT's strike action will see all members not entering or releasing student marks or course marks into the AUT student management system from tomorrow until October 21.
