Dr Robinson, who was speaking at a UNESCO International Congress on vocational education and training in Shanghai said Education International is increasingly concerned that reforms are most often something done to teachers and trainers, rather than with them.

“Particularly in the wake of the financial crisis and the imposition of austerity measures, we have seen a dangerous trend toward governments and employers not negotiating with teachers across the education sector,” Robinson emphasised. “In some extreme cases, we’ve even seen legislative denials of basic negotiating and bargaining rights.”

Ironically, Dr Robinson’s comments came on the same day New Zealand’s Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson announced a package of new employment law measures that will allow employers to opt out of concluding collective employment negotiations, to opt out of multi-employer bargaining, and to opt out of offering new employees the union negotiated employment conditions during their first 30 days of employment.

“[Vocational education and training] around the world faces a number of challenges,” Dr Robinson stated. “These challenges cannot be effectively met without strong social dialogue mechanisms.”

The International Labour Organisation and UNESCO define social dialogue in the education sector to mean “all forms of information sharing, consultation, and negotiation between educational authorities, public and private, and teachers and their democratically elected representatives in teachers’ organisations.”

For example, Dr Robinson noted that one critical challenge is the need to recruit and retain qualified teachers.

“Social dialogue has a key role to play in ensuring that vocational education and training teachers and trainers enjoy appropriate terms and conditions of employment and career prospects,” said Dr Robinson. “In line with international labour standards, collective bargaining is a basic right that is critical in this regard. Collective bargaining between employers and teachers’ unions, while not always easy, shows that negotiated solutions to difficult choices are necessary if we are to be successful.”

So instead, TEU members at MIT will use their lunchtime to travel to see the locked-out union members and their families to ‘shout’ them lunch directly.

The Talleys’-owned AFFCO meatworks company has locked out over 1000 of its workers after  bargaining with union members for only 10 hours. Most have been locked out now for nearly three months. The workers have been without pay since the lockout started and their union, MWU, estimates that 5000 children are affected by the lockout.

TEU organiser Chan Dixon says MIT’s TEU members are simply trying to support workers in their local community.

“The on-going lockout of AFFCO workers by Talleys is one of the most brutal attacks on working people. We just want to give the workers a chance to feed their families and protect their jobs,” said Ms Dixon.

The university told staff and students on 26 March that it proposed to close theatre and film studies, American studies and cultural studies departments. However the papers show that it had already been working behind the scenes to get rid of theatre and film studies since at least last August.

The released documents show deputy vice-chancellor Ian Town met polytechnic chief executive Kay Giles on August 18 last year, when they discussed a proposal from Prof Town to move theatre and film studies from the university to CPIT.

A university spokesman told the Christchurch Pressyesterday that talks with CPIT were not  publicised because they were commercially sensitive.

“No decision has been made to discontinue the programme and no commitments were made to CPIT,” he said.

Theatre and film studies department co-ordinator Associate Professor Sharon Mazer told The Press she was “shocked and appalled” the university had held “secret conversations” since August.

She questioned how staff could offer input to the proposal when the process was so far along.

In an email to Ms Giles and other CPIT managers on March 6, the polytechnic’s dean of creative industries Jane Gregg said it would be “highly risky” to get involved.

“I think clearly this is not a proposition that has very much in it for us, if it is enacted as they seem to envisage.”

In earlier emails, Dr Gregg told Ms Giles she was “worried about getting dragged into a long-standing historical issue”.

The Melbourne Age reports TAFEs (Technical and Further Education institutions) are reeling after the government announced drastic cuts to fee subsidies. The cuts will lead to sharp fee increases for students and are expected to result in courses being abolished and job losses.

The Victorian Government cut the government subsidy for most vocational courses after demand burgeoned in recent years. The subsidy, originally expected to cost the government $900 million this financial year, has surged to $1.3 billion. Spending will be cut to $1.2 billion next financial year.

The government has slashed funding for up to 80 percent of courses — some from $7 down to as little as $1.50 an hour – and abolished extra funding to cover TAFEs’ obligations as public providers.

TAFEs will receive the same level of funding as private colleges, which typically pay lower wages and offer less in student amenities, such as libraries, and services such as childcare.

Holmesglen and Bendigo TAFEs immediately sent out internal memos warning their staff of cuts.

Australian Education Union state president Mary Bluett said rural TAFEs were particularly vulnerable to closure or amalgamation.

“Wodonga will struggle, as will Barwon South West TAFE and some of the Gippsland campuses,” Ms Bluett said.

“There is even talk about handing over TAFE facilities to private providers for them to run programs.”

The Victorian Government said TAFE funding rates would be brought in line with private-sector providers, boosting competition and choice.

“The government will work with TAFEs to develop new business models and leverage their established strengths in a more competitive training market,” the budget paper said.

TEU’s academic vice-president for the polytechnic sector, Richard Draper and national secretary Sharn Riggs have sent a message of solidarity to Australian Education Union members in the affected TAFEs, saying the new budget initiatives are short sighted and hugely damaging.

Weltec was required at the time to disclose in its Annual Report that the metro polytechnics’ fee to Saunders Unsworth ($33,000) because the institution’s government appointed chairperson, Roger Sowry, is also a partner at Saunders Unsworth. Mr Sowry is also the government appointed chairperson at Whitireia polytechnic and a former National Party minister.

If passed, the new bill will set up a register of lobbyists and a lobbying code of ethics. It is modelled on a public disclosure regime used in Canada.

The register will require any paid lobbyists acting on behalf of a third party for the purposes of lobbying government or representatives to be on a register of lobbyists, and to comply with its provision. Failure to register would be an offence.

Returns of lobbying activity will be filed with the Auditor-General and will disclose who is undertaking lobbying activity, who is being lobbied and what they are being lobbied about. It will be an offence to engage in lobbying activity and to not file returns with the Auditor-General.

TEU national president Dr Sandra Grey says it is disturbing that large public tertiary education institutions currently spend tens of thousands of dollars of public money so that a private lobbyist can get them access to the minister of tertiary education.

“Changing the law to shine some light on who is engaging private lobbyists is important as it would show how tertiary institutions, among other publicly-funded institutions, are attempting to buy power and influence.”

Lincoln University had 802 domestic fulltime-equivalent students for semester one. It was the same number as last year and four more than in 2010.

CPIT chief executive Kay Giles told the Press the polytechnic had been able to restore its domestic numbers quickly because most of its students were from Canterbury, unlike other institutions, including universities, which relied more on students from outside the area.

“CPIT is about servicing this community, so we would expect for that reason to rebuild fairly quickly,” said Ms Giles.

There is still some way to go to get to 2010′s total of over 5000, but she believed the mid-year intake would ensure the target was met.

As of 20 March, 3,771 fulltime-equivalent students were enrolled at CPIT, compared with 3,401 at the same time last year and 4,066 in 2010.

However, international students at the two institutions remain significantly down on 2010 levels.

The polytechnic expects to face a $2.6 million drop in income from international-student fees this year, down from $9.9m in 2010 to $7.3m.

Despite this expected decline, the polytechnic was still budgeting for a surplus this year of $3.5m, Giles said.

Some CPIT courses had an increase in students, including quantity surveying, construction management, trades, civil services and architecture, reflecting the job market in Christchurch.

The new agreement includes a 2 percent pay rise and no loss of conditions. The ratification vote closes tomorrow afternoon.

Branch president Lesley Francey says she is pleased with how smoothly the negotiations went, and how reasonable and efficient MIT management were as employers. She told other branch presidents at TEU’s branch presidents’ forum that the keys to this year’s negotiations were high rates of union membership at the polytechnic, a willingness in previous years to take action to oppose employer attacks on working conditions and the branch making sure it planned its negotiation strategy well in advance of bargaining.

The quickly and amicably resolved agreement stands in contrast to many of the protracted negotiations at some other polytechnics and even at recent previous MIT negotiations.

“Our strength in numbers was important this time,” said Ms Francey.

“500 members are about 5 percent of our membership. When one in twenty people are having their job changed or taken away from them we know we do not have a very stable environment for ensuring teaching and education.”

“But the worst part is that we seem to be in a state of never-ending reviews. TEU’s national council has been tracking reviews for a year now and they just keep coming,” said Ms Cormack.

New reviews have recently started at Manukau Institute of Technology, NorthTec, Wintec, University of Auckland, AUT, University of Canterbury, Massey University, University of Otago, University of Waikato and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Ms Cormack says TEU has recorded 49 confirmed redundancies because of those reviews via voluntary or compulsory severance so far.

“500 members is about five percent of our membership. When one in twenty people is having their job changed or taken away from them we know we do not have a very stable environment for good teaching and education.”

“In November last year we recorded 55 reviews at 12 institutions. In October 44 reviews at 17 institutions, in September 43 reviews at 18 institutions, in August 58 reviews at 20 institutions, in July 77 reviews at 24 institutions and so on,” said Ms Cormack.

The new universitech, which was the result of a ministerially-driven merger of Canterbury-based tertiary institutions, had until this week been provisionally trading under the name LinctaburyPIT. It has now completed its rebranding and market positioning exercise. The result is it will partner with, and adopt the branding of the United States’ largest education provider, Phoenix University. Phoenix University of Canterbury also announced this week that its streamlined post-merger flexible human resourcing structure would deliver significantly improved returns for bond investors.

“We believe that by removing duplication of library services, back office functions and administration we can save money. We will be able to offer our customers, students, a twenty-four hour a day service to complement their learning experience,” said newly appointed chiefancellor Sir Giles Carrfield.

“Looking forward, these savings have allowed us to invest in Phoenix University’s strategic direction, by appointing a new layer of management.”

Currently a student who wants to study for a trade or vocation can be paid as little as $10.40 an hour (which will rise to $10.80 next month). In any other job, they would be entitled to the minimum wage of $13 an hour ($13.50 next month).

“Therefore, apprentices have a strong short-term financial incentive to quit their studies and take a less skilled job, where they can work for higher pay and longer hours without the pressure of study,” said Dr Draper.

Meanwhile polytechnics and other vocational training providers now lose funding if too many of their students do not complete courses and qualifications and/or stay in study.

“Our vocation training system is set up perversely, to reward students who drop out of study and take up unskilled jobs, but punish institutions that let this happen.”

“If we really want more skilled people learning new trades and vocations we need to get rid of the training minimum wage and allow apprentices and trainees to earn at least the same as workers in minimum wage jobs,” said Dr Draper.