UNION TO STRIKE ON 2ND OF SEPTEMBER AGAINST UNI MANAGEMENT – Honi Soit

The USyd branch of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has called a 24 hour strike for Wednesday 2nd September. The strike motion was passed with overwhelming support from the branch at a member’s meeting held on 10th August at Hermann’s Bar.
The planned industrial action follows four months of enterprise bargaining. NTEU Branch President Peter Chen said in the motion that “management have refused the vast majority of members’ claims on AI, disability, and freedom of expression”, and are proposing “new change management clauses which would significantly degrade job-security”, alongside “new exploitative teaching-only positions involving unsustainable hours of face-to-face teaching per week”.
Discussions surrounding the motion to strike were heavily in favour. Speakers emphasised the need for consistent striking over a shorter period of time in order to win their claims. Speaking in favour of the motion, Alma Torlakovic, who is running as the NSW Socialists candidate for Granville in the 2027 NSW state elections, told Honi that “staff need a pay rise urgently. Negotiations have not led to any significant gains at the table, as anticipated, so I hope this is the start of a reorientation by our NTEU branch towards serious strike action. We will need multiple days of strike if we are serious about winning.”
The bargaining so far has been marked by stalling from the University administration over many points of the log of claims, with each bargaining update posted by the branch showing a continual lack of commitment from the University on most claims put forward by the Union to the Enterprise Agreement.
A central point of dispute between staff and management is the latter’s attempt to introduce a number of new teaching-focused categories of employment. The union has argued that such positions would “weaken the research–teaching nexus and existing academic career structures”. Affirming this position, the meeting also passed a motion confirming that the union’s Bargaining Team would not negotiate new categories of employment.
Newly elected Branch President John Buchanan in a comment to Honi, said that “the debate here has been orderly, the support has been overwhelming, and that’s a sign of  the preparation that has gone into it. When you do the work beforehand to give everyone a voice, it helps unify the branch. Going into this dispute, the leadership of the branch is more united than ever, and I think that will be reflected in the strike.”
Former Branch President and seconder of the motion to strike Nick Riemer told Honi “the strike will shut the campus down as strikes here always have. As a result of a robust industrial campaign we will shift management as we also always have. 
“Union members need to be realistic about the fact that that will take effort, because the people who run the University are determined to degrade conditions for students and staff to the best of their ability, and that’s gonna take a significant amount of pushback.”
The University of Sydney Union (USU), which is responsible for providing on-campus amenities told Honi that “as an organisation, the USU respects and upholds the rights of staff to engage in industrial action.
“The USU is presently considering the impact of any change in operations on our workers, students, and the community at large, and is assessing what decision will best champion welfare for both USU staff and our student community on campus.”
The member’s meeting at which this motion was moved was originally intended to be a two hour stop work. However, according to an email to the branch membership, an “administrative error” for which branch President Peter Chen took “full responsibility” meant that the intended industrial action lost legal protection. When approached for comment by Honi as to how this error occurred, Peter Chen stated that the “paperwork was not submitted”. 
Branch President Peter Chen also told Honi that “I don’t think that the branch treats the strike flippantly. There is this recognition that we had to do the hard yards at the front end, to demonstrate that we were bargaining in [good] faith, to advance as many of our claims as possible. It wasn’t until relatively recently that all of our items have gotten to the table, and we’ve got a sense of management’s areas of opposition over our claims. While there is obviously a mixture of views over industrial action, you saw there a unified branch.”
Speaking on behalf of management, a University of Sydney spokesperson told Honi, “The University respects the right of staff and their union representatives to take part in protected industrial action in accordance with the Fair Work Act. 
“The University disagrees with the characterisation that we “have refused the vast majority of members’ claims on AI, disability, and freedom of expression”. We will continue to engage with bargaining teams on several matters, including AI, freedom of speech, and our proposal on workplace change, which aims to improve the impact of these processes on staff wellbeing.”
The complete log of claims can be read online here.
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.
Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

source
This is a newsfeed from leading technology publications. No additional editorial review has been performed before posting.