My name's Scar (she/her). I'm running to continue as one of our branch's National Council Representatives. I've also been working as one of our two Victorian Co-Representatives on QUTE's Steering Committee.

I've been working under casual contracts with the school of maths and stats, running tutorials for 1st and 2nd year maths units since 2019; and did the same at Monash for four years prior to UoM.

Additionally, I'm a PhD candidate in gravitational waves research with OzGrav2, based at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

I'm a queer, trans, disabled woman eking out a career in STEM. The importance of intersectional solidarity is something I understand well. It is through considered and conscientious solidarity that lies the true power of union action.

I ran in 2022 on the principle of 'nothing about us, without us' upon learning of the utter lack of representation from the queer and trans communities, despite the vocal debate on the QUTE motion at 2021 NC AGM.

After our landslide victory of the QUTE motion in 2022, it became clear to me just how impactful the presence of people of diverse lived experiences, on the body that decides how our union works, truly can be.
I'm running, and will continue to run, to be on the union's NC; so I can fight to ensure that this union exists as a force for intersectional solidarity in our sector.

A major focus of mine for the next two years is to try and make the union less turbid in its actions at Division levels and more accountable to our membership; in particular trying to pass minimum standards of transparency with common sense requirements such as mandatory reporting on motions and minutes and making those available to the members we are meant to be representing.

Together with a comrade from another branch, we brought a motion for exactly that purpose at 2023's NC AGM, and despite an analogous motion for similar requirements for union activities at a National level having passed unanimously in 2022, our motion didn't carry.

If given the chance, I'll work with my comrades to get such standards of transparency enshrined in our union's rules at this year's NC AGM.

I hope that you put your trust in me to do what needs to be done for our union to be the best union it can bee

I am a PhD candidate and tutor in the School of Culture and Communication. I am standing for the position of NTEU National Council Representative because I want to continue building power through deep organising at the University of Melbourne branch of our union. As a delegate, I contributed to organising the historic strikes in 2023. To build that campaign, I also helped to train other delegates to have organising conversations and to map their workplaces. I am passionate about this kind of scalable and horizontal organising work, in which rank-and-file members help to build each other’s capacity. Recently I have been leading the organising for Palestine at our branch through the Palestine Working Group, which contributed to the development of the four solidarity motions that were passed near-unanimously at an all-members’ meeting in May. I am committed to building our branch and organising members to become active in our campaigns. I see this position of National Council Representative as the natural next step for the work I have done so far – helping to integrate the local struggles in our branch with the wider priorities of the NTEU. Over the next two years, I am keen to help build an active and strong union through the systematic organising methods developed om our industrial campaigns.

I am standing for National Councilor for the University of Melbourne Branch to push for further transparency and democratic presentation at division council enabling more accessibility and engagement for all members.

Since starting at the University of Melbourne in 2022, I have been an active member and delegate, organising in the Faculty of Science, and collaborating with members across the whole University. This has included working with members to consolidate, refine, discuss and debate the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA), organising numerous rallies and having numerous one-on-one conversations to communicate decisions, explain situations and gain the insights of our branch members. My transparency and desire to do more for fellow workers places me in good stead to ensure a change for more democratic council sessions and a consolidated push by council for further improvements for all branches.

With this I wish to bring into focus the issue of workloads which steadily increases for all staff, but especially professional staff as Universities continue to look for more and more funding to increase their standing. Prioritising a good workplace with balance and the ability to switch off for all and not just some is what I will bring to national council.

I’m a long-time member of the union, I became significantly more active within the union near the beginning of the most recent enterprise bargaining campaign. I have a background in software engineering so have extensive experience with exploring extensive and often conflicting goals of a wide range of people driven through structured conversations, as well as navigating complex legal requirements and principles. I co-chaired the Insecure Workers Network last year with a few other wonderful union colleagues and joined the branch committee during bargaining later in the year – working on extensively analysing and discussing claims proposed, particularly in relation to their operation on casual staff.

I am an academic staff member in the Faculty of Engineering and IT and have taught for over a decade, teaching in undergraduate coursework, postgraduate project work and postgraduate research subjects. I have also researched in the area of Agent-Based Planning.

I’m running for branch committee as I think my skillset aligns well with the demands of branch committee. My approach to growing the union is generally driven by data-backed analysis and conversations with other members – an approach long a part of successful union organising and further honed through practice in the enterprise bargaining process. I am also happy to carry out much of the work the branch committee picks up and give it my all.

I’m also running for national/division council as the structure of the union is such that decisions made at higher levels often affect the allocation and availability of resources for local levels of the union such as the branch. I believe an active and engaged national and division presence from the branch is critical to ensuring the support is most aligned with effective union operation.

In the longer term, I see the branch focusing on the enforcement stage in preparation for the next round of bargaining – with limitations and challenges present in the agreement we most recently managed to win likely to come to the surface most clearly as we strengthen the union and build towards the fights that matter most to members. Building to have capacity for what we know we need in the next round strengthens our ability to win what matters most to members now – even where that isn’t a part of the agreement, allowing more of the issues we know exist in the University today to be resolved closer to how we know they should be.

My name is Nathan, I’m a post-doctoral researcher at the Melbourne Law School and I’m nominating for Branch Committee and National Council.

As a casual tutor, I became a delegate during our branch’s landmark campaign on wage-theft. Through that experience I witnessed the strength of collective decision-making and collective action and saw this strength reach new heights during our recent industrial action. I want to see greater reflection of these participatory ideals at the national level and greater transparency around the NTEU’s decision-making processes. I believe these factors are key to building union power and I am eager to strengthen our delegate network and promote delegate training to underpin this development.

Our union must be active to grow – that the University of Melbourne’s recent history of activism has made it the largest branch in the country is proof of this fact. Taking further action around working conditions and social justice is the natural direction for our union to be moving in. As an activist, delegate and Branch Committee member, I’m proud that I have been a part of the movement so far and am eager to work with my comrades here and at other branches to keep this movement going.

Hi again. It’s Gonzo again.

Because our union has a complicated structure, I’m also running to represent our branch at the NTEU national and division councils. These are infrequent meetings in which high level strategy decisions are set at the state and national levels of our union. I’d love your vote for this additional position because it will allow us to continue to ensure that our branch perspective is heard at all levels of our union.

The reasons I’m asking for your vote for this position are the same that you’ll find in my statement for Assistant Secretary for Professional Staff and on my website, www.nteugonzo.com

I am not contesting this position as I have been successful for the National Councillor (General Staff) position.

My name is Liz Strakosch and I am a senior lecturer in politics at the School of Social and Political Sciences. I’ve been a teaching and research academic for ten years, first at UQ and now at UniMelb. Since first starting work in higher education, I’ve been a union member and involved in grassroots organising, especially in relation to insecure employment and racism within the workplace. Last year, I was involved in organising industrial action in the Faculty of Arts, including co-running the Racism in the University workshop during the second strike week.

I also work in antiracist spaces outside the university. As a white settler scholar, this involves doing my best to prioritise the leadership of and collaborate with First Nations and racialised people. I am a founding co-director of the Indigenous led Institute for Collaborative Race Research, which aims to put research to work in antiracist struggle, a board member of the Institute for Postcolonial Studies, and an Executive Officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, which seeks to provide an alternative Jewish perspective advocating for justice and Palestinian freedom.

I am running for this position because I am committed to building a fighting union and transforming the higher education sector. I believe we need union representatives from amongst the permanent academic staff who prioritise insecure and professional workers’ needs, and are not afraid of taking strong industrial action.

All workers face the corrosive effects of insecure employment and huge workloads, and we can only change this through industrial pressure and continued activation of members. I also believe the NTEU can do better in the area of antiracism, and that we need to build a labour movement that works for and includes all marginalized groups. Finally, I support our branch’s strong stance on the genocide in Gaza. As a branch, we must be brave and vocal on this issue, and fight fiercely to defend academic freedom. I have been impressed by the energy, openness and commitment of the UniMelb branch of the NTEU, and would love to continue to contribute as a member of the branch committee and national council.

I am not contesting this position as I have been successful for the National Councillor (Academic Staff) position.