Sydney Alliance Founding Assembly
Our Involvement in the Sydney Alliance Founding Assembly:
On Thursday evening, the 15th of September, NTEU members from various Universities attended the Sydney Alliance Founding Assembly in Sydney Town Hall. There was also a seminar held in the NSW Division Office prior to attending the Assembly amongst NTEU members to discuss our involvement.
Between 6 and 7pm, Sydney Town Hall was packed full and over 2000 people spilled over the streets, square and footpaths around the town hall.
It was an incredible site seeing the sheer numbers and diversity of people inside. Soon after the Founding Assembly began, the leaders of member organizations spoke in a fast-paced roll call.
Genevieve Kelly, introduced the NTEU and explained the reason why we have joined saying,
“NTEU represents all staff across all Universities in Sydney. We are a founding member of the Sydney Alliance, because our members don’t just want to understand the world, we want to change it. “
The Sydney Alliance is an organization aimed at bringing together a broad range of community groups, faith-based groups and trade unions, to form a civil society voice that is currently lacking in Sydney. The Founding Assembly launched the Agenda for Common Good, which had three key areas that are believed by the Sydney Alliance to be of common concern to those living in Sydney:
- Community Care and Health.
- A Socially Inclusive City.
- Strong Public Transport.
The NTEU aims to be a part of this momentum so that it can play a role for the benefit of the wider community. Our members have the opportunity to take part in community activism as members of the union, which is an affiliated to the alliance.
We’re looking for feedback from NTEU members who attended the Founding Assembly. What did you think of the Assembly? What are your thoughts on the NTEU’s further involvement in the Alliance? And how would you like to get involved?
Comments
[ 0 ] I was good to hear others interested in a well being approach to social development, rather than an economics and progress approach. Beyond academics specific areas of expertise NTEU would probably contribute most to the Social Inclusion area, as unfortunately much education is required to retain an egalitarian and inclusive society
Like • Dislike •Also well being is often linked to spirituality, so lets keep this broad.
[ 0 ] I thought it was a great night. The roll-call was a real highlight. And as Len said, it felt a little church-y at times ... but I guess that's not surprising given the make-up of the Alliance, and I ended up enjoying those bits too!
Like • Dislike •I'm excited about the NTEU's involvement in the Sydney Alliance -- I think it gives us a great chance to take action with others as unionists on issues that we can't address on our own. I've also blogged about the night and the politics of coalition building through the Alliance here: http://citiesandcitizenship.blogspot.com/
[ 0 ] The diversity Genevieve reports was both striking and at times moving. I mention the Indigenous musical welcome as being especially rivetting, It felt somewhat like a revivalist meeting in its format and that produced some great punchlines. I would like to see the Alliance extend the reach of the NTEU on the range of matters our members see as important. As was said during our pre-launch seminar, this is a chance for the NTEU to reinvent itself, and develop its community connections.
Like • Dislike •