UNSW staff to stop work for 1 hour every day in strike for fair pay

By ERIN WALKER

Staff at the University of NSW will stop work for one hour each day for the next three weeks under protected industrial actions, from April 17 to May 5. Classrooms have emptied out as staff strike for job security, equal workloads, and fair pay for employees.

This is what happens when management ignore uni workers’ calls for reasonable workloads, secure jobs and fair pay.
UNSW members are taking action every day until 5th May for #BetterUnis https://t.co/gRdUIvu7t3

— NTEU New South Wales (@NTEUNSW) April 20, 2023

The decision to strike was made by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), after 12 months of negotiation with the university administration on a new enterprise agreement.

Staff say UNSW management have continued to resist demands, even though the University reported $360 million in profits last year. Over 700 UNSW full time equivalent staff have been made redundant since 2020.

Richard Vickery, President of the NTEU UNSW branch, said that negotiations for a new enterprise agreement have been going on for over a year.

Vickery said the union is seeking a “significant reduction in casual work”, as well as stronger job security protections.

“UNSW had massive staff cuts in 2021 but returned an operating surplus of $223 million. NTEU members report that the impact of this has been felt in increased workloads across the University,” he said.

This comes as academics across Australia contend with an increase in casual workers, cuts to research budgets, and pay rises not keeping up with inflation. As students are faced with indexation on HECS-HELP debt, Universities are reckoning with issues on all ends.

The UNSW professional and academic staff enterprise agreements were enacted in 2018 and have since expired as of December 2021. However, they continue to apply until new agreements are arranged. The union says these agreement guidelines are now out of date, especially due to the drastic increase in cost of living.

The last salary increase UNSW staff and academics saw was in July 2022 under their bi-annual pay increase in their existing agreement, with the increase only being 1%, in comparison to the 3-4% expected annual average.

UNSW students stand with staff

The UNSW Education Collective, made up of student representatives, is supporting the staff strikes, and defending the quality of their educations.

“If staff win their demands, this will only improve our education at UNSW,” the education collective said via social media.

A UNSW spokesperson said they respect the right of staff to take industrial action, but are surprised staff have chosen to strike.

“With the good progress we are making with the unions on the new Enterprise Agreements for Academic and Professional Staff, it is surprising that the NTEU and its members have decided to take this action at this time,” the spokesperson said.

“We are disappointed with the NTEU’s decision to take this step as all parties have demonstrated a genuine willingness to finalise new Agreements as a priority over the coming months. The decision of the NTEU to take industrial action would appear to run counter to that understanding.”

The strikes at UNSW come as neighbouring University of Sydney staff continue a historically long strike campaign. USyd staff have held close to ten strikes in the past year, calling for an end to casualisation and fair wages in line with rising inflation.