President’s Report April 2021 AGM

It has been another funny start to the year this year, with Auckland already having two lock down periods due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Papatoetoe. The disruption has definitely had flow on effects for us, delaying assessments and distracting students. Fingers crossed that we have seen the last of this for a while!

At the time of writing this report, I have no news on the new Safety and Science document. However, I am due to attend the NZASE Council meeting in a couple of weeks where I hope we will all receive an update and hopefully some good news regarding a release date.

As you will be aware from my recent updates on scitech talk, our Pay Equity Claim appears to be progressing quite rapidly. Our contact on the Pay Equity team at NZEI is keeping us informed and we are even being contacted by the Ministry of Education’s Pay Equity team. I take this as a good sign that our claim is being treated seriously. Please remember, if you haven’t already done so, to see your Payroll Officer at your school to ensure that you are under the new pay roll code for Science Technicians. As always, the Executive team will keep you informed whenever we receive any updates.

Unfortunately, a longstanding member of the STANZ Executive Committee, Terry Price, resigned from the Committee in February. Terry’s workload at school has increased to the point where he can no longer fulfil both roles. We are very sad to see him go. Terry’s long and dedicated service to STANZ has resulted in our electronic newsletter format, scitech talk, our new and updated Constitution and so much more. We have been very lucky to have had him as long as we did. We wish Terry all the best in his future endeavours.

This year is conference year, which means it is also STANZ Executive Committee election year! We are looking for Science Technicians who want to play a role in developing our organisation into the best form that it can be. Personally, serving on the STANZ Executive Committee has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. You get to work with a fantastic group of people who all have the same goal as you and that is to help promote Science Technicians in New Zealand, work towards getting them better and safer working conditions, better pay and provide access to relevant professional development opportunities. To do all of this, we need you! If you are interested in standing for election but want to know more, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team members.

I am getting very excited about ConSTANZ21! I’ve only been to Christchurch once before and that was about 2 years after the quakes. I am looking forward to exploring the city and seeing what the amazing Conference Committee have organised for us. So if you haven’t already, make sure you apply for your Professional Development funding asap!

Arwen Heyworth