23 May 2023
At our most recent members meeting on Thurs 18 May, it was decided to stop work (strike) on Wed 24 May from 3:15-5:30, to coincide with the gathering of members of the University Council, University Executive, Governor of Victoria and other key stakeholders of the University at the installation ceremony of the new Chancellor, Jane Hansen AO.
We planned to picket the installation ceremony to appeal to Jane Hansen, as the formal head of the University and chair of the University Council, to use her power to champion the standard of ethical governance and integrity. We ask her to insist that her Vice-Chancellor regain the trust of staff by including an 80% secure work target in the next Enterprise Agreement.
Due to our planned action, the University decided the ceremony wouldn’t go ahead.
As a result, the Branch Committee decided to call off the strike. We know that a strike costs our members money. We don’t want members to lose pay, or students to miss class if we can’t get our message across to University leaders.
This outcome is a good reminder that what we are doing is being noticed and is making a difference.
What now?
We need to keep our actions visible to continue making a difference and get an agreement that will mean better working conditions for staff, and better learning conditions for students.
Union members employed by the University of Melbourne can take the following two forms of industrial action:
Make statements while working, explaining why members of the Union are taking industrial action. This could include making statements in meetings, in classes, or in emails, provided you are delaying work to make the statement. For more guidance on how to make a statement, see here.
A ban on applying penalties for late submission of student work. Given that the end of semester is at hand, members putting a ban on applying penalties for late submission of work should advise students of the last date they can submit work to allow members time to mark and meet due date for unit results. Student should also be informed that eventually the ban will be called off, and while we would hope to give them a decent lead time for this, it may not be possible.
The Strike Committee meets weekly, on Tuesday from 1-2PM, in-person and online. All members are welcome to attend in-person or online and help us prepare our next action.
The next Member’s meeting is on Thursday 1 June, we look forward to seeing you there!