October Strike Digest #1

Day #1 Wrap Up

Union members across the university walked off the job at 12pm today, October 2nd to strike for better workloads, a wage rise and job security.

It was a glorious beginning to our week of strike action across the university! Hundreds of staff and students joined a strike-rally starting at South Lawn before marching to the Kenneth Myer Building where Duncan Maskell was visiting the Faculty of Science on the first stop of his “Vice Chancellor’s Roadshow.”

NTEU Members in the Faculty of Science attended the event, pointing out the University’s hypocrisy directly to Duncan,

“You talk about the importance of science and evidence- based research to respond to the cascading crisis facing our world - but where is the support for scientists? How are overworked, insecurely employed researchers supposed to produce their best work? Where is the institutional support for First Nations scientists who have a right to a culturally safe workplace? How are we bringing up our next generation of scientists and problem-solvers if their tutors can’t even respond to their emails?”

The rest of the union showed solidarity occupying the foyer of the building to make our presence known, hearing from staff and students in different faculties of the university about why they were taking action.

Jake, a tutor from Maths & Statistics spoke about casualisation and job insecurity in their faculty, and how it has spurred their organising efforts - starting with a meeting of just 5 union members a month ago to the meetings of over 50 staff members now pledging to join the strike.Their actions will disrupt 104 tutorials throughout this week.

We ended the rally with a loud rendition of ‘Solidarity Forever,’ still echoing in the building, pledging to be back 8am the next day for picketing.