‘Strike until we win!’: Sydney University Staff go on day 5 and 6 of strikes 

By CHRISTINE LAI

University of Sydney management have yet to make any concessions to union demands after over 15 months of ongoing enterprise bargaining with the National Tertiary Eduction Union (NTEU). 

Staff at the University of Sydney went on strike for the fourth time last week in the continual fight for better working conditions. This round of strikes ran for 48 hours across October 13-14th and marked the fifth and sixth day of industrial action respectively.  

Pickets were held across various locations across Camperdown campus, including City Rd, Ross St, Victoria Park, Barf Rd and more.  

The USyd NTEU branch released a statement explaining their campaign which involved demands for better job-security, the protection of academic research, an end to exploitative casualisation and casual wage-theft, and a fair pay increase.  

The branch also stated that the closure of the university was expected to cause significant disruption due to industrial action taken. Previously scheduled graduation ceremonies for Business and Architecture, Design and Planning and Business students have been cancelled. The Student Centre and student union food venues were also closed, with a “large range of classes, laboratories, meetings and other work” reported to not go ahead.  

Associate Professor Catherine Sutton-Brady condemned the casualisation crisis in the tertiary education industry and spoke about how there were some colleagues in the Business School faculty who “have been casuals for over 17 years”.  

She explained that she was out striking for casual academics and criticised the form of insecure work which left many in financially precarious conditions.  

“I’m on strike today because I’m fighting for casual worker’s rights. They get no sick pay, no holiday pay, they have no rights. They don’t know from semester to semester how much money they’re going to be earning. How can people try to live a life without job security? I’m here striking for security,” Sutton-Brady said.  

Sutton-Brady added that she was “really sick of” the university’s method of using the pandemic as an “excuse to increase our class sizes so that those casuals are now having to teach more students than they can adequately give time too”.  

 USyd Management attempt to derail strikers  

Earlier this week, emails by USyd Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Annamarie Jagose were sent to staff and students which outlined management’s disapproval with the strike.  

Jagose’s email read:

“I am disappointed that the NTEU has chosen to take more industrial action. From the start, I have clearly advised that the University will not be influenced by industrial action, but only by constructive negotiation around the bargaining table. That has certainly been the case for all the matters that have been finalised so far, as can be seen in the recent and pleasing progress in bargaining where constructive discussions on both sides have enabled us to reach agreement on numerous matters. 

Nevertheless, we support the right of our staff to take lawful strike action and to engage in peaceful protest. We have asked that any teaching staff who intend to take strike action let their students know in advance and are doing our best to minimise the impact of this disruption on you. It is, however, unlawful for staff to be pressured to either participate or not participate in industrial action.” 

One staff member criticised the email and management encouraging other USyd staff from continuing going ahead with lessons via zoom instead of teaching face-to-face to avoid the picketers on campus.  

“Management has decided to use zoom as a strike breaking mechanism”, the staff member said, to a chorus of ‘shame” being yelled out by picketers.  

“Campus is a wasteland when we are on strike. Many classes are being cancelled and we’ve been barricading it, but the university has a backdoor to continue their ‘business-as-usual’ operations”, she said.  

The academic denounced Jagose’s email and mentioned the Provost’s threat to the union by “saying that what we are doing is unlawful industrial action.”  

Another staff member voiced their agreement with the sentiment, stating “Tweeting that staff should join the strike is not unlawful industrial action. Encouraging your picket not to cross the picket line is not unlawful, it’s telling the truth. Mates don’t let mates become scabs.”  

Music on the picket line  

Chemistry lecturer Ron Clarke gave picketers a performance by playing working-class songs on the French horn, including “The Internationale” and “Bella Ciao”.  

A series of chants and dances were also a staple of the pickets, with “Get up, get down, there’s a union movement all around” a favourite line to sing, while jumping up and down.  

 The NTEU will be meeting next week to discuss plans of further industrial action in Week 13 of USyd’s semester.