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Lecturers at an Auckland tertiary institute have staged the first of a planned series of "lightning strikes" over what they say is increasing and unrealistic workloads.
About 150 Manukau Institute of Technology staff joined a picket line during Tuesday's two-hour action, which began at 10am, Tertiary Education Union organiser Chan Dixon says.
Similar short, unannounced strikes are likely to continue for the next fortnight, although they might not be daily, she says.
Dixon says the union hopes the issues behind the industrial dispute can be resolved within that time.
If not, the action will be increased, she says.
MIT communications manager Zara Potts says classes did not seem to have been too badly disrupted by Tuesday morning's strike.
One electronic technology class had to be cancelled, while other students had a break while their lecturers were on strike.
In the visual arts department, students were given ongoing work in their lecturers' absence.
The union has said MIT lecturers have among the highest workloads in the polytechnic sector.
It also says lecturers are opposed to management proposals that could mean staff working more variable hours and "at more unsociable times".
MIT management says it is keen to resolve the industrial dispute.
In relation to more flexible hours, it says 70% of students study part time, so course timetables have to be worked around their employment.
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