policy & reform
campusreview . com . au
UNSW staff on the picket lines . Picture : Supplied .
Once you finish one term , doing the marking - then the next term is already on you .
‘ We want to wrap it up ’
UNSW staff strike over contract delay
By Emilie Lauer
Staff at the University of New South Wales staged a strike last month to secure more permanent roles for casual academic and professional staff .
After one year of delayed negotiations , hundreds of UNSW staff and students crowded outside of the university ’ s Sydney campus .
The strike followed three weeks of rolling stoppages and coincided with the first week of term 2 .
National Tertiary Education Union ( NTEU ) UNSW Branch President Associate Professor Richard Vickery said she hoped the action sent a “ strong message ” to management .
“ We ’ ve been aiming to wrap it up ; the sooner we can reach an agreement , the sooner we can get those improvements for staff at the university ,” Mr Vickery told Campus Review .
“ But management is responding so slowly ; we hope this will convince them they need to make some serious movement on our key issues .”
At UNSW , the bargaining process started in March 2022 , and while the NTEU said some progress had been made at the table , none of the key claims around workload , de-casualisation and pay had been addressed .
The union said the number of casual professional staff has increased over the past few years and is now equal to casual academics .
“ It ’ s very hard to understand why professional staff would need to be in casual roles when their work is ongoing ,” Mr Vickery said .
Nationwide , nearly one-third of academic staff were employed on a casual basis in 2021 , with universities reportedly offering fewer than 1 in 100 casual staff a permanent position .
The NTEU aims to reduce the number of casual academic and professional staff at UNSW by 35 per cent .
The union will also be asking for a “ fair ” pay rise of 15 per cent compounded in 5 per cent per annum over the life of the agreement to face the rising cost of living .
Management has offered 3.25 per cent per annum over four years , which , according to Mr Vickery , has pushed wages “ backwards ” with the current inflation .
Last year , the university registered a surplus of $ 223 million following more than 700 jobs cut in 2021 .
Mr Vickery said the sacking of colleagues during Covid has left remaining staff picking up slack .
“ Members report feeling trauma from losing so many colleagues in the last few years and then coping with the consequent workload increases ,” he said .
“ Outstanding staff have left due to the workload pressures . I personally lost the colleague that I shared an office with , as well as a key collaborator on an ARC grant we held together .”
According to the union , education focussed academics have been impacted the most by increased workloads as the university runs on a trimester system . The union aims to cap teaching workloads at 60 per cent . “ Teaching is unrelenting ; once you finish one term , doing the marking , and then the next term is already on you , and those staff have been burning out ,” Mr Vickery said .
“ We want these staff to have space to develop their career , innovate , research , or upskill to stay current with their discipline .”
A UNSW spokesperson told Campus Review that the university respected NTEU members ’ decision to go on strike .
“ It is disappointing the NTEU has decided to take further industrial action as negotiations have been progressing , with a number of union claims resolved in recent weeks ,” they said . “ All parties have demonstrated a genuine willingness to finalise new Enterprise Agreements for Academic and Professional Staff as a priority over the coming months .” ■
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