‘Those in power don’t want it changed’: USyd staff strike for eighth day

Misbah Ansari and Veronica Lenard

University of Sydney staff and students went on a 24-hour long strike on Friday, demanding fair pay, First Nations staff parity and less Education Focused roles. Friday’s action was the first half of the 48-hour strike, with the next strike taking place next Wednesday.

This is the eighth day of striking during a 21-month long bargaining process. Friday’s strike occurred after a branch meeting on Wednesday 29 March confirmed that members were dissatisfied with the most recent proposal from management.

Strikers started congregating at pickets from 7am in the morning, turning people away from entering campus entrances at Redfern, Victoria Park, Abercrombie Business School, Eastern and

Western Avenue, Footbridge Theatre and Ross Street.

The campus was vacant, replaced with the movements of picketers who were chanting, playing music and delivering speeches.

A key demand was reducing the proposed increases to Education Focussed Roles. Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Anna Sturman, said that these roles are “really intense teaching loads.”

Gender and Cultural Studies

Scholarly Teaching Fellow, Dr Jessica Kean, said that “70% teaching does not fit inside 37.5 hours in a week during semester, especially during marking time, people are being absolutely steamrolled.”

Kean said that staff in EFR roles are likely to encounter issues with career progression in future, “Because at the moment, the university wants you to be on those for five years before you have the possibility of conversion, five

Reflecting on the impact on education, Sturman said that students want “teachers who have the capacity and time to engage in their field, to be experts in their field, to be top of their fields in the world”, so the University should be aiming for this instead of this “really intense, awful, education focussed role.”

President of the USyd NTEU, Dr Nick Riemer, said that “the Vice Chancellor, Mark Scott has barely set foot in a university, certainly not as a university worker before he became vice chancellor. The rest of the senior management have manifestly deserted whatever slender commitment they once might have had for scholarship and education.”

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi attended the City Road picket, and spoke to the value of collective power, “Here’s the thing about the political system. Those in power don’t want it changed. So it is up to us union

A zoom picket in addition to the physical picket was arranged with strikers entering replacement Zoom classes and explaining the reason why staff are striking. USyd Student Representative Council President Lia Perkins said, “The purpose of the strike is to stop business as usual at the university. Hundredsw of staff striking do this, but management try and prevent the disruption by pressuring staff to teach online.”

Picketers at the Victoria Park steps were met with physical attempts from people trying to cross the picket with brute force. An individual was seen trying to push against picketers despite calm explanations from staff about why they were on strike.

While there were no undercover police officers today, police presence at the pickets was still a common sight.

Unless a suitable agreement is proposed, the NTEU will strike next Wednesday (Week 7), and for 72 hours in Week 10.