Solidarity! On Wednesday 5 April, the IEU stood with members of NTEU NSW and fellow colleagues in the education sector on the picket line at Sydney University. NTEU members were on strike for the ninth time. The NTEU strike at Sydney University is the longest-running industrial action at an Australian university.
IEU Organiser Charles Wheeler addressed the rally and said “The problems you are facing are not just in your sector; they are throughout all education. We need to fix conditions across the board. Union power!”
Also in attendance was IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Assistant Secretary David Towson who said “The IEU is proud to stand with our NTEU colleagues in this picket line today. The casualisation of university educators and the quasi-privatisation of our universities through the outsourcing of services traditionally provided by university staff undermines these critical pillars of our society. The working conditions of university staff are the learning conditions of our university students. We salute those staff taking part in this campaign and those students who are supporting their tutors and lecturers.”
Nick Riemer, President of University of Sydney NTEU Chapter, thanked unions and activists for standing in solidarity with their industrial action.
“We thank the Independent Education Union, the Maritime Union of Australia and the NSW Teachers Federation who are here today. The union movement and the community care about what happens here. This isn’t just a fight about higher education. This is a fight about the empowerment of working people against one of the most hostile managements we can conceive of. The NTEU is not going to let them get away with it.”