VSM: the non-conscientious objector

The Education Act 1989 provides that a “students association may exempt any student from membership of the association on the grounds of conscientious objection.”  If the association is satisfied of the conscientiousness of the student’s objection, it gives the student’s money to a charity of its own choosing.

Jono’s post ably summarises why this procedure does not save the regime from inconsistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.

I’d like to focus on a different aspect: namely, the implausible premise that only “conscientious” objectors may not be compelled to join a students association.  In doing so, I’d like to defend the rights of non-conscientious or unconscientious students to decide whether or not they want to be a member of a student union based on whatever considerations seem salient to them.  Not least among those considerations: whether the student thinks she can spend her money better than the student union (in some cases, this may not be an implausible assumption).

So how did it come to pass that a student should be required to plead her case before an association pursuant to section 229A(6) of the Education Act and, even if successful, should be required to give up her money to charity as the price of relinquishing a membership she never asked for?

The conscientious objection ground to union membership is a throwback to provisions, which used to be relatively widespread in the Western world, providing for unionised “closed shops”.  The closed shop arrangements considered by the European Court of Human Rights from the United Kingdom and Denmark included grounds for an employee to seek an exemption from union membership on conscientious grounds. Similar arrangements existed in Australia.

The rationale of these procedures was to provide narrow grounds (usually invoked for religious reasons) to avoid union membership while locking other workers into the closed union shop arrangements.  As such, the procedure has its basis in a previous legislative era that was hostile to the idea that union membership was a decision for each employee to make.  The requirement to “conscientiously object” from union membership is therefore based on principles that now find little support in New Zealand law and which no longer reflect the practices of modern New Zealand workplaces.

The right to freedom of association entails more than the right to plead one’s case for an exemption to the group which you didn’t want to join in the first place.  As one of the leading New Zealand textbooks says,  “The starting point unquestionably is that no one can be compelled to join an association.”  As the other leading New Zealand Bill of Rights textbook explains, “The right to freedom of association belongs to individuals, not groups; everyone has the right.”  Just like the AA, the local tennis club, or Greenpeace, the decision is yours — and “no thanks” is a perfectly adequate answer.

Accordingly, there is no reason for students to accept the sad sack procedure under section 229A(6) as a substitute for their rights under section 17 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.  The non-conscientious objector should support legislation that puts her back in charge of deciding which associations to join.

Tags: Freedom of association, VSM