Kia ora AASC members,
CEA Bargaining.
At the AGM we spent some time discussing AASC’s claims for the collective. I mentioned that we were going into bargaining on Monday 16th August, and were hoping for a quick resolution, possibly on the day. That assumption was based on Ara’s direction from Te Pukenga about what was expected in bargaining … in their terms, just “dates and rates”. That was confirmed by the limited set of claims present to AASC by Ara management.
We had also received that advice from Te Pukenga some time ago but chose to present a full set of claims as per the direction from our members in the belief we have a strong ongoing relation with Ara.
I asked Kathryn to include all the amendments to our claims which were raised at the AGM. These were presented to Ara in advance of the meeting and on the Monday.
The outcome of the meeting was positive. We continue to have a good, open and respectful relationship with Ara management. It was not concluded on the day for good reason. Here is a bullet point summary.
- All points of our claim were discussed in full, including those presented on the day
- Ara is considering our bargained position on salary increases in light of the current financial/funding climate and with the directive from Te Pukenga in mind. It will be a compromise between our claim and their counteroffer.
- Ara has committed to costing our claims, including back dating the claim to October 2020, the inclusion of Learning Facilitators/Team Leaders into ASM grades, and increasing the upper level for SASMs
- All costings would need to remain within Ara’s financial constraints.
- At the time of bargaining Ara were looking at giving us that information by Monday 23rd. The aim being for Ara and AASC to arrive at a deal we felt we could bring to the members by the following week.
- The caveat being Ara must get sign-off for any deal from Te Pukenga.
The timeline agreed on Monday has now changed given the focus on managing the Covid lockdown and the wellbeing of our staff and students. I’m in constant contact with Ara P&C and they intending to focus back on costing our claims as soon as resources are available. The last email communicating I had was this weekend and they indicated they should be able to consider the collective later in the week.
I can confirm that Ara thoroughly appreciates AASC academic staff and their committed to students and the organisation. They are doing everything they can to address our claims in good faith and maintain that relationship.
I’ll keep you updated on a regular basis.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me.
Ngā mihi nui
Warwick Shillito
