Timesheets for Tutors

The university is changing all the time, and small and big changes to university policies can make a big difference to students' lives. Sometimes these changes are internally driven, and sometimes the University is bound to directives from the Government. Student activism and engagement is essential to taking charge of the decisions that shape our destinies.

The PGSA acts as a focal point for advocacy on matters which affect postgraduate students. As postgraduate students we are more age diverse than undergraduates and have a greater proportion of international students. Adding to that, the community tends to be more fragmented by the different policies, practices, and environments across the University. So there's a lot of ground to cover for a mere 12 people!

In 2019 our work has focused on the Victoria Doctoral Scholarship and Postgraduate Student Allowances. Many students wrote heartfelt letters in support of increasing the Victoria Doctoral Scholarship, and as a result the issue will be part of University’s 2020 budget debate. Likewise, the restoration of Postgraduate Student Allowances will be part of the Government’s 2020 budget discussion.

Going forward into 2020, the big issues are:

• The Minimum Resources Agreement

• Postgraduate Student Accommodation

• Timesheets for Tutors

To do justice to these big issues we’ll need your help!
At the 2019 AGM we released a document outlining the approach we intend to take renegotiating the MRA. A follow-up survey on this will be following very soon.

We also need your feedback on the impending changes to the Appointment of Tutors and other Teaching and Research Support Staff Guidelines (available on the VUW staff intranet). Tutors are currently waged staff with an hourly rate who work variable hours. As part of the Holidays Act remediation process the University received legal advice that to be compliant with all the relevant employment legislation, all employees who work irregular hours must record the hours they work. To comply with the act, the University intends to implement timesheets for tutors. However, we believe there is another potential solution: tutors could be part-time salaried staff. This would not remove the requirement to make a record of time worked, but it would mean that pay is not linked to it – resulting in consistent pay over the period of employment. We need your feedback to understand your needs as tutors and ensure our approach will benefit the postgraduate community, so please complete this anonymous survey! We would also be happy to receive longer feedback at pgsa-president@vuw.ac.nz.

I am a giant ear, waiting for your feedback.

--- Elizabeth (PGSA President)