Submission for Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill

I thought I would share my submission after reading some very good submissions by Jenna Raeburn, Nicholas Cross and Nicholas Kerr.

Mine is a lot more modest in comparison. Happy reading!

Dear Committee

I would like to make my submission in support of Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill.

I support this bill and hope that you do too. I have many reasons that I hope will help support making the committees decision easier.

Many submissions bring up the NZ Bill of Rights being incompatible with freedom of association. This is absolutely true. Opponents of the bill dismiss freedom of association simply because they got a legal opinion saying it didn’t breach the Bill of Rights in the 1990’s. These are hardly grounds to ignore a fundamental right that everybody else in New Zealand enjoys. Nobody is forced to join the Automobile Association – an organisation that offers representation, services and member benefits, nor will you find anybody promoting compulsory membership for them.

Freedom of association is also enjoyed by workers in New Zealand since 1991. Unions such as the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) have flourished under voluntary unionism and provide their membership with representation and benefits and have built themselves up without the need to force every worker to join them. Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove himself has defended the right for voluntary unionism back in 2008 when he defended plans to make the New Zealand Real Estate Institute voluntary, "We haven't had compulsory unionism for 20 years. Why should I as a politician tell you or anybody else what you should belong to? If you want to join the footy club, the workingmen's club, the institute - go for it. It's your choice and you should have that right." Further on this, The Labour Party also endorsed the New Zealand Law Society’s move to voluntary membership in 2007. Supporters of the status quo have used compulsory membership to the Law Society as a strong case to keep student unionism membership compulsory – just as the New Zealand Universities Student Association (NZUSA) used compulsory trade unionism as a case study in the 1980’s – and yet both are now voluntary. It’s time that Student Unions also follow this modern trend if they are to stay relevant to their members. Believe it or not but NZUSA themselves have voluntary membership.

Voluntary Student Membership (VSM) isn’t an anti student union bill. However it is a bill designed to give students a choice. Student Unions throughout New Zealand currently struggle to make themselves relevant to 10% of the student body at student election time. It is simplistic to say that apathy can be solved by more people getting involved, when student unions do not make the democratic process attractive to its members. My personal experience running for student executive at Otago University was littered with abuse, threats of violence and sabotage from the student union owned student paper (Critic), simply for running on a campaign that supported the National and ACT party’s education policies. While it did not put me off, the abuse was carried out on members of my immediate family who studied on the campus as well. This strengthened my resolve to make student unions more accountable to their members, no group of students can claim to represent every student’s political, religious or personal beliefs – nor should they speak on their behalf when most students don’t even share them. In 1999, NZUSA supported the Alliance Party and sent press releases supporting Alliance Party policy while claiming to represent all 250,000 students, and yet the Alliance got 25,888 votes in total for this election. In 2002, the Otago University Student Association (OUSA) spent student’s money campaigning for the Alliance Party, putting up billboards, distributing flyers and using student funded transport to assist the campaign.

Opting out is not an option. The current legislation does not help those who wish to leave the union nor do student unions adhere to the law requiring them to advertise to students the opt out provisions.
Alex Sorenson, 2009’s Massey Wellington Students’ Association (MAWSA) President, admitted that unions do not sufficiently advertise this, and in fact her union didn’t at all. No surprises that in 2009 OUSA had not one student opting out of membership. This is a result of two problems; one being that the process is long and rigorous – and the other being that if a student is successful, they do not get their money back. One cannot simply object because they disagree with a student unions “politics”. They must put together a compelling case that is decided upon by the University and Student Union. There have never been any clear statistics by NZUSA or indeed any pro VSM organisations that show many students successfully opting out.



If a student union was more relevant to students then there is simply no case for compulsory membership. For decades student unions have embarked on supporting political causes rather than serving the members who pay for their representation and services. Unions subsidise bars and food outlets as well as media – all of which are already viable concerns in the commercial world. A core service for student unions is representation on University councils. This does not cost the students anything and yet students are expected to pay between $100-$200 p/a to a student union that seems intent on providing non-essential services in order to legitimise themselves. Why should a student be forced to fund a radio station in order to get a degree? Why should students subsidise drinking for other students in order to get qualifications?

Many opponents of VSM say that paying union levies is akin to paying taxes or rates. This is misleading as student associations do not perform the same roles as local or national government nor do they have the legal status to do so. Student unions are incorporated societies and therefore forcing students to join them without legislating that we join other organisations that provide useful services is hypocritical. Student clubs, sporting events, cultural activities and entertainment/social activities would not be affected by VSM either. By giving students a choice whether or not to join a union – why would students stop attending social events or no longer join a club? Students should have the choice how they spend their university years, be it studying or socialising. However, compulsory student union membership has meant that students regardless of their social, religious and personal beliefs are subsidising others for their hobbies, interests and ill deeds at the student owned bars.

To summarise, I support the bill to make student unions voluntary just like every other incorporated society in New Zealand. Just as other unions and societies have modernised their membership provisions, our student unions also need to step and become relevant to its members.
Thousands of organisations around NZ provide services to members, and many radio stations exist without compelling students to fund them. As a student I chose to support a wide range of advocacy organisations, charities and service groups - but the only one which forced me to fund them was the one which then ran around promoting a range of things I fundamentally disagreed with.
Students have a diverse range of opinions, beliefs, needs and values. They can never be represented by a single organisation, and deserve the right to choose whether or not to join.

If voluntary membership is good enough for trade unions, it is good enough for students.

**UPDATE**

Here is the Act on Campus submission. It is also a very very good submission. I managed to read it all... it's very good.