Thousands of university and polytechnic staff have gone on strike over pay.
By Felix Walton of RNZ
The Tertiary Education Union estimated the mass industrial action would include 8000 members across the country, all striking from 1.15pm to 5pm.
National secretary Amy Ross said none of the pay offers across the sector went anywhere towards meeting the cost of living crisis.
"If we want to live in a country that supports us all with enough quality nurses, builders, teachers, doctors, engineers and other skilled professionals, then we need to value the people who teach them," she said in a written statement.
Ross also named job security as a major concern for staff.
"At universities just over half (54.8%) of the workforce are on fixed-term or casual employment agreements," she said.
"This is insecure work, which creates huge job uncertainty for people who are relied on to tutor, teach and do the research that a university's reputation rests on."
She said negotiations with some polytechs had dragged on for 10 months.
Lack of secure roles 'taking a mental toll'
Union national president-tiriti Ti Lamusse said none of the offers currently on the table matched inflation.
"Employers are offering a real pay cut at every institution," he said.
"On top of that no employer has offered to do anything about the ongoing abuse of fixed-term contracts by universities in particular."
He said tertiary institutions were having their budgets squeezed.
"Tertiary education funding has fallen in real terms every year this government has been in power," Lamusse said.
But he said university leadership could offer pay increases if they wanted to.
"They absolutely can afford it, it's about choices, and the decision-makers are making choices not to prioritise staff."
Meanwhile, Lamusse said staff were being strung along with fixed-term and casual contracts at the cost of their mental health.
"I was speaking to a library worker last week who was telling me how she had no idea how she was going to service debt to fix her car that had just broken down," he said.
"To make things worse, she's on a fixed term contract and she doesn't know if she does take on a loan to fix her car whether she's even going to be able to pay that off."
Some had been on a series of fixed-term contracts for years.
"One of my colleagues has spent more than eight years on fixed-term contracts, despite the fact he's been doing the same job all that time," Lamusse said.
"This guy is a leading volcanologist, he's doing really important work. He's bringing in lots of research funding, and yet he's not given a secure job."
That took a mental toll, he said.
"You can't start a family, wanting to bring a baby into the world but not knowing if you'll have a job next year, not being able to get a mortgage," he said.
"The stress is overwhelming, I spoke to someone on Friday who actually had a brain aneurysm from stress."
Associate Professor Sean Sturm from the University of Auckland's Arts and Education Faculty said staff felt overworked.
"Everybody is kind of pushing a heavier load and being asked to do more with less and to be happy with pay rises that are less than inflation," he said.
Sturm said the rise of casual contracts was pushing his colleagues away.
"We have lots and lots of stories of people who can't get mortgages, people who have to move further out from work to be able to get even rentals, you know, because rentals often require a really stable work history," he said.
"So it's getting harder and harder for those people just to meet the everyday needs that they have. That's a huge challenge."
University to continue with 'business-as-usual'
A spokesperson for the University of Auckland acknowledged staff had a right to strike, but noted most staff were not union members and wouldn't be striking.
"The university remains committed to bargaining in good faith and is hopeful that it will be able to find a constructive solution to address any issues through the bargaining process," they said.
"During any strike action, the University will continue with business-as-usual and minimise any disruption to students and staff as far as possible at this crucial time of the academic year."
RNZ has approached several universities and polytechnics for comment, and Minister for Tertiary Education Penny Simmonds.
Universal College of Learning chief executive Jasmine Groves said the polytech was committed to constructive bargaining.
"UCOL recently met with TEU for bargaining, and we have also scheduled more bargaining dates, which we will attend in good faith", Groves said.
Manukau Institute of Technology and Unitec chief executive Christina Hong said the same, and noted classes would continue on Wednesday afternoon.
"Serving the educational needs of our communities remains our core purpose. Learners have been advised how we will be continuing with their classes over this period," Hong said.
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