Student Union bollocks

[Indiana_Jones]

From the NZ Herald

Apprently there's a bill before the house in which they seek to give students the option to opt out of the student union if they so wish....

I for one did not know you had to join it (not being a student and all), what a crock of shit, making people join a union against their wishes.

Apprently in the Aus they gave students the option and 95% wanted out, shows how much supoort these unions have.

Of course the Greens and Labour oppose such a measure, cause those union staff might have to go earn some money for a change....

-Indy

[bogan]

we have a union? do I pay membership for that? what do they do?

[Indiana_Jones]

we have a union? do I pay membership for that? what do they do?

You tell me mate....

But apprently you're propping them up.

I'm sure one of uni going members can tell us

-Indy

[bogan]

You tell me mate....

But apprently you're propping them up.

I'm sure one of uni going members can tell us

-Indy

reading that article it just sounds like accounting huckory, they give us the right to opt out of unions, they lose money so charge us more somewhere else. Cept those still in the union get to pay twice!

edit: and the moari party won't get support for hikoi's anymore apparently, didn't realise I supported the last one tbh, and that seems reason enough to opt out to me.

[Ixion]

If you're at Auckland Uni (and at least one other) , you don't have to belong.

Present rules are that membership being voluntary or not is by vote - ie students vote on whether membership should be compulsary or not

Auckland voted optional. Some other unis voted compulsary. So what this bill actually seeks to do is to DISempower the student body

Problem with NOT being compulsary is that if the Union is a good one (and in my day it was good, if radical and action oriented be deemd good, I thought it was) , then the non members often end up free loading, sharing the benefits that the members fought for and paid for . Don't like free loaders, myself.

[Indiana_Jones]

Problem with NOT being compulsary is that if the Union is a good one (and in my day it was good, if radical and action oriented be deemd good, I thought it was) , then the non members often end up free loading, sharing the benefits that the members fought for and paid for . Don't like free loaders, myself.

Agreed, but it is a two way street, there are also students who would benefit little from quite a lot of the stuff they do, but will still end up paying for it.

-Indy

[Ixion]

The Auckland University Students’ Association was formed in 1891. Since then AUSA has endeavoured to represent and to advocate for students at the University of Auckland as well as providing an extensive range of services for the wider student community.

AUSA is run by students, for students, enabling you to get on with why you’re really at University. AUSA is NZ’s only voluntary students’ association, which means you choose whether to join in order to access the many benefits that AUSA provides. It is also completely free to join.

In essence, AUSA offers you a central focal point for all student activities and acts as the student voice within the University and in the wider community. The more members that we have, the more effectively we can represent you. It’s as simple as that.

Membership of AUSA brings you access to a wide range of services and benefits both inside and outside of your academic life. AUSA is a founding member of the New Zealand University Students’ Association representing your concerns at a national level, as well as University Sport New Zealand the premier sporting body for New Zealand tertiary students.

AUSA Covers many different areas of you academic life, from O’ week through to the end of year AUSA is always there for you and will help you with any problems you have. This diary is just one of the many things that AUSA produces over the year, along with events, Craccum, over 120 clubs, Welfare service, Advocacy Systems and much more…

AUSA is funded partly by the University to help bring you some of the services and then predominantly survives off money from its businesses that have been built up over the past. AUSA is the 100% owners of Shadows, bFM, Studentcard, UBS Bookshop and the main Café. Whenever you buy something from these guys you are supporting AUSA and the more you buy the cheaper we can make it for you.

Voluntary, and free. Not sure what you're complaining about.AUSA also subsidises the SMC, which makes them GoodBastards by my reckoning.

Granted, I reckon that AUSA nowadays are a bunch of whimpering pussies. Which is prolly related to being voluntary, or maybe because students nowadays are a bunch of whimpering pussies. Ah, the good old days when police baton charges meet the AUSA phalanx in the Quad.

[Ixion]

Agreed, but it is a two way street, there are also students who would benefit little from quite a lot of the stuff they do, but will still end up paying for it.

-Indy

Well as membership at AU Uni is free I'm not sure how you end up paying for it.

[Indiana_Jones]

Well as membership at AU Uni is free I'm not sure how you end up paying for it.

Well I'm not paying regardless as I'm not a student lol

But that is Auckland Uni, what about all the others?

-Indy

[bogan]

Well as membership at AU Uni is free I'm not sure how you end up paying for it.

not at palmy it ain't, we pay 150 bucks for Musa, +200 for student services, another 90 in building levies. the later two are understandable, I dunno what we get from the first one though, chances are if it wasn't compulsory MUSA would be a token amount, and student services would go up by $150. And they are a bunch of fucking pussies down here as well, so it ain't a money thing, for that money they could commision the engineering dept to build them some protest robot or something, that'd get results

[SPman]

Granted, I reckon that AUSA nowadays are a bunch of whimpering pussies. Which is prolly related to being voluntary, or maybe because students nowadays are a bunch of whimpering pussies. Ah, the good old days when police baton charges meet the AUSA phalanx in the Quad.

Here here! 10 years ago when the Ak students occupied the offices over a protest about fee hikes, they left, when told to by the police - as my older son said - "that wasn't a protest - it was a visit!" No 2 son kept up the family tradition by being arrested at Massey, a few years back, when they barricaded themselves in the offices and the cops had to break in - that's more like it!
Aaah...Auckland Uni in the early '70's.............(waxes all nostalgic and misty eyed.....)

[Brian d marge]

I didnt realise it was compulsory either
but they did and do quite a lot , back in the day they were very vocal about student loans (not that it helped much)

but you should see a lot more of this divide and conquer tactics from said government

when will people just say enough is enough .....when the health care has gone? Acc is in Canadian hands , water is owned by and American company?

Carry on

Stephen

[firefighter]

we have a union? do I pay membership for that? what do they do?

Unless you opted out I think you pay for it as a default.

If you're at Auckland Uni (and at least one other) , you don't have to belong.

Present rules are that membership being voluntary or not is by vote - ie students vote on whether membership should be compulsary or not

Auckland voted optional. Some other unis voted compulsary. So what this bill actually seeks to do is to DISempower the student body

Hmmm. sounds like another reason to change to UOA next year........I tried to opt out from Massey, I do'nt get any benefit from anything, and the fees are actually relatively high, especailly taking into consideration the amount of students. It's extortion for it to be compulsary, if I wanted to support it i'd be an active member, I actually see it as them stealing my money. What the hell else is it when someone forces you to pay for something you don't want!!! I have'nt even been to the fucken bar! I guess being an adult student it's never really going to be much good for me. I have the facilities I want, lecturers and a library for reference and research, I could'nt give a fuck about the free sausages.......

Edit. Not free sausages, sausages I do'nt have the time or inclination to line up for in the first 2 weeks of semester.

[aprilia_RS250]

I remember at Victoria I was charged 99 annually. At the end of my first year I got pissed with mates and had an intellectual discussion regarding the 99 fee, so stumbled to the VUWSA office and asked for my 99 back. The chick at the counter was "like uh??"

I said that I did not get my 99 dollars worth for the whole year apart from that one time I used Salient (uni paper) to wipe my arse when we ran out of toilet paper. She got up walked to back room and gave me a bunch of bus tickets, food vouchers (which we used to buy more piss for the night) some free shirts that said "VUWSA" on them and a liter of Just Juice. I was stoked!

[Squiggles]

Well as membership at AU Uni is free I'm not sure how you end up paying for it.

Or is it? There is a student services levy collected with course fees every year =\

I suspect many students support this bill, but will then cry foul when things start tumbling down around them...