Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Education
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EPMU
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Investing in Educational Success
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Jobs
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PPTA
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Trade Unions
Regular readers will be aware that we aren't great fans of trade unions. It's not that long ago that we were card-carrying members of the EPMU, but that's another story for another day.
But we saw two union stories in the news yesterday, and they couldn't be more polar opposites. Here's the first story:
IES: consultation, collaboration, good for schools
3 June 2014
The government’s $359 million Investing in Educational Success (IES) program has been a positive example of sector collaboration, says PPTA president Angela Roberts.
Roberts welcomes today’s release of the working group report on the initiative which will see schools across the country collaborating rather than competing.
From PPTA’s point of view the consultation over IES was comprehensive, robust and genuine, Roberts said.
“We stepped up to the challenge and engaged as fully as it is possible to do.”
The sector had worked hard together to find pragmatic answers and there had been significant movement from the originally unacceptable cabinet paper, Roberts said.
“You know it’s collaboration when it’s hard work – and this was really hard work.”
“We feel cabinet has heard us,” she said.
That did not mean there would not be further work to be done or challenges in the future. Details of the new provisions would be a matter of collective bargaining, Roberts said.
“This is just the next step. We still have a long way to go to make sure that this lands well in schools and look forward to continuing to be part of the process,” she said.
Roberts was pleased cabinet had affirmed the working group’s final report.
“This is not performance pay and it is not a lolly scramble – it’s an investment that will have a positive impact on our schools and our students.”
In her engagement with teachers and principals they agree that competition is destructive and that something should change.
“This is something PPTA has been working towards for more than a decade, we are pleased a government has finally decided to resource it,” she said.
It's not every day you will see a PPTA presser on this site, so chalk it up! But we commend the PPTA for the attitude it has taken into good-faith negotiations with the Government.
As Angela Roberts has noted, there is still a long way to go before the IES is ready to be implemented, but by engaging with the Government, the PPTA is making progress on behalf of its membership. And at the end of the day, that's what unions are about; the members, not the elected or appointed officials.
Unfortunately, we cannot be as charitable towards our former union. Check this out, via Scoop:
4 June 2014
Sitel jobs coming to New Zealand isn’t all good news
There’s not much cause to celebrate in the news that 139 jobs at Sitel in Australia will be moving to New Zealand, says the union for telecommunications workers, the EPMU.
The US company announced last week that it is moving jobs to New Zealand because labour is cheaper here.
“That’s not good news for workers or the New Zealand economy,” says Anita Rosentreter, EPMU organiser. “These jobs aren’t secure and they don’t give workers a chance to build a real career or plan for their future.
“Last year we lost 100 jobs from Sitel in Auckland. They went to Australia and the Philippines.
“This is the price of the government’s low-wage economy. Even if jobs do come here in the short term, they can go just as quickly – moved to countries where workers are paid even less, or places like Australia which invest in skills and infrastructure.
“New Zealanders deserve secure, skilled jobs with a future, not short-term contracts which could be gone tomorrow.”
This is pretty low-rent stuff from New Zealand's biggest union. Jobs are jobs, and we are sure that there will be plenty of competition for the 139 positions with Sitel.
It's really unfortunate that the EPMU is coming across all elitist. For a start, they clearly don't want the union fees of 139 new potential members.
But for the EPMU to claim that 139 people going into work is "not good news for the workers, or the New Zealand economy" is just plain bizarre. The economy benefits when people transition from welfare to work. The individuals benefit too, learning new skills, earning a wage, even if it is at the lower end of the scale, and developing the discipline of working.
The EPMU needs to forget the political rhetoric, and actually take a glass-half-full approach to these jobs instead of the Eeyore-like prophesies of doom and gloom.
So kudos to the PPTA, but not to the EPMU. We know which union we reckon is doing more for the interests of its members, or prospective members.
