National Tertiary Education Union members will go on strike at Monash University and Swinburne University this week as industrial action in higher education ramps up across Victoria.
Monash University staff will strike for a half-day on Wednesday 6 September in response to management offering a real wages pay cut and refusing to budge on secure work or workloads.
Swinburne University staff will go on strike for a half-day on Thursday, a week after walking off the job for the first time in a decade.
Swinburne management has proposed brutal cuts to conditions in a radical plan, that would strip more than 140 rights and entitlements from the enterprise agreement.
Union says more strikes expected unless demands are met
Staff at RMIT University are also expected to launch industrial action next week, unless management allocates serious time to enterprise bargaining negotiations.
Last week, NTEU members at the University of Melbourne launched major strike action ranging from one to seven days.
NTEU Victorian Division Secretary Sarah Roberts said: “We are now seeing deep anger among members at multiple universities and that’s a direct result of vice-chancellors and executives refusing to constructively engage with the NTEU’s reasonable claims around fair pay rises, secure jobs and safe workloads.
“University staff made incredible sacrifices and worked harder than ever during the pandemic only to be rewarded with employers playing a cruel game of hardball on pay and conditions.
NTEU Monash University Branch President Dr Ben Eltham said: “The action by Monash University staff will highlight the poor governance record of Monash Chancellor Simon McKeon.
“Mr McKeon was the Chancellor of Monash throughout the period of the University’s $8.6m in staff underpayments and a director of Rio Tinto when the mining company blew up Juukan Gorge.”
NTEU Swinburne University Branch President Dr Julie Kimber said: “Staff are at breaking point with unmanageable workloads and poor governance at Swinburne.
“We are taking this action for staff and also for students, who suffer when their teachers are overworked and have little job security.”
