Voluntary student unionism push in NZ

By Marina Carman

In an attempt to weaken student opposition to the privatisation of higher education, sections of the New Zealand government are making a renewed push to legislate for voluntary student membership of student unions.

Patrick Rooney writes in the Aotearoa Youth Network magazine that MP Michael Laws' 1994 private members bill to make membership of student unions voluntary was dismissed after two years of debate. Now two new bills with the same aim have been put forward by MPs Donna Awatere-Huata and Tony Steel.

The voluntary student membership lobby argue against universal membership on the grounds that students have a right to choose whether to belong to a student association. Some even argue that universal membership contravenes the Bill of Human Rights.

However, students opposed to voluntary membership argue that these bills would mean less choice for students. Currently, the student body can decide to have universal or voluntary membership. The Waikato Student Union, for example, has opted for voluntary membership.

Rooney states: “As soon as you enrol you directly benefit from the work of the students' association. Okay, you may not use the recreation centre or read the student paper, but everyone benefits from the $150 reduction of the '97 tuition fee gained by students' associations, and from the constant pressure placed on universities and the government to perform to students' expectations.”

Liz Gordon, NZ Alliance MP, supports universal membership, arguing: “Students can't help benefiting from gains of past student associations. They cannot chose to have better grievance procedures, safer study conditions, better examination processes. They cannot choose to remove access for students with disabilities or better lighting on campuses. The fact is, students do benefit from universal membership, and [it] must remain.”

NZ students are also conducting a letter-writing campaign to protest the arrest of 74 students who were protesting against education privatisation on September 25.

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