Half the price!

Salient reports:

What’s the most effective way to make change? Have a broad church representing multiple interests? Or have small, targeted groups trying to make incremental change in specific areas? It’s a question now being posed by Te Herenga Waka academics. Law professor Nicole Moreham and biology professor Wayne Patrick have formed the University Academics Union (UAU), with a focus on academic protections and problems at universities. 

Why the new union? Moreham attributes it to fear of losing academic voice, citing recent attacks on academic freedom in the United States and the financial vulnerability of most academic institutions.

Academic freedom is critically important. Ironically one of the biggest threats at academic freedom is the Tertiary Education Union. Time and time again, they support the mob rather than the academic under fire.

One potential advantage of the targeted strategy is how membership of the UAU is cheaper than the TEU, but unlike the TEU, it does not (yet) offer representation in employment disputes.

The TEU charges 0.8% of your income up to $1,032. The UAU charges $550 and is pro-rata for part-time.