The TRUTH behind the Compulsory Student Union Movement

The anti VSM movement, led by NZUSA and other left wing organisations have a new snazzy webpage up - ready to arm their supporters with misinformation about VSM.

NZUSA is funded by all University students in New Zealand, and yet they are also voluntary. Membership to NZUSA is voluntary to student unions. I read that most students voted for a centre right government in 2008 which would mean that students are funding organisations that they don't support. It would be like everybody being forced to join the AA, Greenpeace or a political party. NZUSA stands up for left wing policies - and advocated for students to vote for the Alliance the same here they were wiped out of Parliament - spending thousands of dollars of students money in the process.

Student's money is being spent on the website and publicity against VSM again this year. When you look at their webpage there is surprisingly no contact information or any clue to who is running/funding this website. Is there truth to the rumour that NZUSA have paid top dollar to a PR company? Is there any truth that NZUSA have allocated thousands of dollars to fighting a nationwide campaign to discredit VSM and its supporters?

Students at University traditionally are seekers of truth; which makes the assertions on their website downright embarrassing and misleading. Will the lies that NZUSA have put on their site be believed by students? Let's have a go at correcting them :)

VSM a nightmare for Maori Students

Why? Membership of ALL Maori Student Associations is already voluntary.

VSM will not just decimate the 'student experience' for many Māori, it will have massive negative impact on Māori community as a whole Why? Freedom of choice will not bring about the destruction of Maoridom. Why use scare tactics like this?

Te Mana Ākonga, the National Māori Tertiary Students Association (TMA) - are staunch advocates for barrier free education for all. They advocate policies that have made - and will continue to make - more accessible to Māori. Māori Roopu also work to promote tertiary education for young Māori

VSM would silence these voices and stop that work.

TMA support policies for free education. At last count there is only one party in Parliament who supports that policy, the Green Party. Politics aside, it is a little hypocritical for a voluntary union to say voluntary unionism will kill the voice of all Maori. The long list of "services" Roopu provides doesn't say anything. Maori students will not lose their representation under VSM. What makes this more suspicious is that there are no figures of how many students are members of these associations, just sweeping generalisations.

The mythbusting page is even worse.

MYTH #1: I'm forced to be a member of a students' association.
FACT: The current system does not force students to join students' associations in order to study. If you do not wish to be a member, you can opt out and your money will not go to the students' association.
The Opt Out clause is called conscientious objection and it involves many procedures for a student to go through, before they are allowed to be considered to be allowed to "opt out". Opting out is the new buzz word for student association and it's deliberately misleading as if you do manage to opt out, you DON'T get your money back. What is the point? What NZUSA don't tell you are the numbers of students who successfully "opt out". Why bother? The MAWSA Student president admitted last year that associations don't advertise the opt out option to students, which is a legal requirement under the education act. This is deliberate. Myth number 1? Zero.

MYTH #2: Roger Douglas' Bill is about giving students a choice.
FACT: If 10% of students sign a petition calling for a referendum on VSM, a binding referendum will be held and students can vote to implement VSM on their campus. This legislation takes away that right to choose.

Can NZUSA at least be upfront about the processes involved in putting together a referendum, getting it validated by an anti VSM student union (within an academic year) and then voted upon on a level playing field? VUWSA last year showed the kinds of pressure a student union can put against student power. VUWSAs response to this and subsequent tricks to get around its own constitution shows that students have to be extremely well organised and have plenty of time in order to bring about basic democracy and freedom. Most students don't have this time as studying and exams take precedent!

NZUSA also forget the terrible history of where anti VSM supporters took WSU back to compulsory membership. Kiwiblog writes: In 2000 the University, headed by former British Labour MP Bryan Gould, scheduled a further referendum upon receiving a petition late in the year. They scheduled it for a short three day period at the beginning of study week for exams. And they only gave students one days notice of the vote. Their own staff advised against this, and said there should be two weeks notice. Turnout fell from 30% to around 10% This was after THREE elections at WSU where VSM won convincingly against CSM. I remember debating the then NZUSA President Karen Skinner on the Kim Hill show in 1999...and Karen was dead angry about WSU having the cheek to be voluntary. I also remember being absolutely out of my depth in that interview - not my proudest moment! :) Myth number 2... rubbish.

MYTH #3: "But I never use any of your services..."
FACT: Some people take a lot of the services students' associations provide for granted....... Then there's the policy wins your students' association and NZUSA have fought for: a cap on fee rises and interest free student loans that everyone benefits from. If you still think you don't get anything out of your students' association, why don't you take a look at exactly what they do and try to use some of their services? You might even have some fun.

Why should every student fund a radio station, a newspaper, subsidised alcohol/food, exec travel... in order to get a degree? They say NZUSA fight for fee increases and yet these unelected NZUSA presidents don't say a word when almost ALL student unions put UP student levies every year. Hypocrisy? NZUSA have a history of supporting Labour and despising National Governments, many of Labours MPs have been ex NZUSA or student association employees. When you look at that policies NZUSA are advocating, compared to the fact that students come from different political backgrounds, how can NZUSA claim to represent all students on a political level? Myth 3 - destroyed.

MYTH #4: "Students' associations are all corrupt"
FACT: Proponents of VSM have tried to play up instances of fraud to undermine students' associations and the services they provide. The reality is that students' associations are some of the most transparent and democratic organisations in the country and where fraud has occurred, it has been stopped. The possibility of fraud exists in every organisation, from the world's biggest banks down to your humble students' association and this Bill won't change that.

Wrong. The pro VSM movement have highlighted many cases where student associations have acted illegally wasting hundreds of thousands of compulsorily acquired money from students. As for an association being democratic, this bizarre claim means nothing when we mention the above WSU and VUWSA examples - coupled with the associations use of student media to threaten and embarrass pro VSM supporters. You can't compare being a forced member of a student union to being a customer of a bank! Mugabe would be very proud of NZUSA! Myth 4? Stupid.

finally - MYTH #5: I'll save money under VSM
FACT: You pay either way. Most institutions under the Bill will raise their own fees to cover the missing services but you won't control what those services are, how much you have to pay or where it goes. You'll pay more for less too: students' associations rely on a lot of good will, volunteer labour and pay below market rates for staff.....

If you don't use a service at all how will it cost you more? NZUSA put too much emphasis on who delivers a product rather than the quality. Putting all that aside, again it has to be asked - why should students fund cafe food and student media in order to get a degree? What is the cost for freedom of association? Myth 5? Done for.

NZUSA are highlighting the supposed "failure" of Australian student unions after the Government introduced VSU in 2005. What they again forget is that student unions in Australia were hardcore left wing organisations that alienated themselves from the masses who felt left out and ignored. Student Unions accumulated "assets" paid for by students without running them responsibly - of course when a guaranteed income of millions is taken away and students are allowed to choose if they think the services are worth it or not, the free market kicks in. Associations that were running poor unsustainable businesses were going to fail, just like any other business. NZUSA however is anti free market, anti capitalist and anti freedom of choice - and are more than happy for students to fund failing businesses.

If your student association was so confident that they were offering these amazing services that students could simply not do without, why are they so scared and spending thousands of dollars to stop students ticking a box when they enrol at University?

The website mentions the following items that will be threatened under VSM:

Welfare & Advocacy
This is the big one you'll hear from student politicians. What has been ignored is that at every institution, there are avenues already where you can bring up grievances. Why would a university shut out students welfare under VSM? This is scare tactics at its very worst. Furthermore don't buy into the spin that students MUST run these services for it to be effective - anybody can run these services.

Representation
Is this referring to associations representing students to support free education and progressive taxation? Or NZUSA supporting the Alliance party (pdf). How can an unelected body at NZUSA, with an obvious left wing bias claim to "represent" tens of thousands of students? Especially when at the last election most students supported a National led coaltion. How can an association that gets less than a 10% turnout at elections claim to represent all students?

Associations tend to argue that this can be explained by showing election turnouts in Government elections overseas. Not once do they see the stupidity in comparing a student union with a democratic and all powerful government. The closest and more accurate comparison would be to compare this to forced membership of the AA or a local bowling club.

Recreation and leisure and Entertainment and Social
I'll put these together as they are very similar points to debate. NZUSA and their member associations are saying that without forced membership, clubs, sports and events will disappear. This is obviously ignoring the fact that sports clubs and entertainment venues already operate outside a university already. People talk about clubs disappearing, but this is bizarre. Labour Youth survive without compulsory membership (and are thankful for grants from associations as well). As for every student subsidising clubs and sporting activities for the few, it doesn't seem fair. Why should a student fund the recreational choices that another student has made?

Pubs, clubs and all sorts of organisations that are active in the community always have events that students have enjoyed for years. Just because the union isn't compulsory doesn't mean students won't know how to have full social lives to accompany their studying. If students don't drink and party, why should they subsidise the activities of those who do?

So why are NZUSA and member unions against VSM?

Because they have the MOST to lose. It's self interest.

The people commenting on the anti VSM Facebook group come from a very similar background - and before you say that pro VSM people are the same, you forget - we are trying to let all students CHOOSE whether or not to join while the left are telling you that you MUST join and give them your money.

Oliver Woods - Co-Leader of RAM (residents action movement) left wing political party: Major lols at the ACT on Campus INTERNET WARRIORS descending upon this page. Your ironic messages invoking lofty concepts like FREEDOM & LIBERTY are comedy gold, particularly considering you want to restrict my freedom to have a good quality education provided by the State and services provided by student unions. Keep ...it up guys - the more posts you make, the more people will hate your struggling proto-fascist party and its crusade to fuck over young Kiwis

Potaua Biasiny-Tule - activist and anti capitalist.: VSM kills student culture on campus > seen it happen at Waikato Uni. Roger Douglas is a nob as well - everyone knows that.

Jill Biddington - employed by the ACTU (Australian Council of Trade Unions): This has resulted in worse services and facilities for everyone when it was introduced in Australia - such a dumb idea. Not the best idea to import. Yuk Roger Douglas!

Rachel Boyack-Mayer - NON elected "President" of SANITI (Student Association of Nelson-Marlborough Institute of Technology Incorporated) and member of Grassroots Labour. She is appointed not elected. SANITI (ironically named) was compulsory until 2002. Not too sure of how that came about so I will reserve judgement for now: John Key assured New Zealanders that Roger Douglas would have limited involvement in policy making, and backed this up by refusing him membership of the Cabinet” says Boyack. “John Key and the National party should have the courage to ignore Roger Douglas, and instead, look at the evidence in favour of student associations” says Boyack. (Scoop)

And not forgetting the shady well funded people behind the website...little do we know about how much students are funding it for and who is pulling the strings.

If you made it this far and have anything to add either for or against then please feel free to add it in the comments below. Unlike the Anti VSM page, I will not delete comments I disagree with, I have worked with many others for VSM since 1996 and love to debate the issue fairly.

One final thought: If Labour and their buddies are so against voluntary membership, who did Labour make the Law Society voluntary in 2007? Why did Labour NOT reintroduce compulsory trade union membership?

See: Save Our Services - the lies and ill deeds, paid for by the students of NZ.

Join "Free Me" the pro VSM page on Facebook. Supported not just by right wingers, but students from all over the spectrum. Not only do we not censor comments on our page, but we invite good debate.

MAWSA President admits validity to VSM Movement

You tube footage of the VUWSA attempts to shut down a general meeting when pro VSM attendees outnumbered their friends. And their attempt to hold a secret meeting to overturn the results here.

Jenna's blog post on what actually occurred when VUWSA tried to silence the students.

The full story on WSU going compulsory behind students backs.

Heather Roy on association abuses (Kiwiblog)