STAFF TO SHUT SYDNEY UNIVERSITY DOWN
Tue 7 Oct 2003
Staff at the University of Sydney will go on strike for 24 hours today.
The strike is in response to the university management’s decision to renege on the signing of a new Enterprise Agreement, the product of nearly a year of cooperative negotiations, because it does not conform with hardline industrial requirements recently announced by the Government as a condition for universities accessing $404 million in public funding.
The NTEU and the University planned to sign this agreement on Wednesday 24 October. At 4.30pm on Tuesday 23 October the University contacted the NTEU to advise the Union, "We will not be signing any agreement that does not comply with the Government's Workplace Relations Requirements".
"University staff are very angry about the University’s eleventh hour decision to renege on a deal that we all thought was signed, sealed and delivered, “ said Michael Thomson, Acting President of the NTEU University of Sydney Branch.
“The Government’s workplace relations guidelines and the University's acquiescence have sabotaged 12 months of difficult negotiations which now appear to count for nothing."
"The guidelines are not only a provocative intrusion into the business of higher education institutions, they do nothing to promote a high quality education service and will turn universities into industrial battlegrounds.”
“Staff at universities wish to provide high quality education,” said Thompson. “They are not interested in playing the Government’s games. University management should also stand up to this intrusion."
“Staff are now demanding that the University sign the agreement, which provided a range of important benefits and improvements for both the University and its staff.”
Pickets at all gates of the University will start at 7am. The University of Sydney Student Representative Council and the Sydney University Postgraduate Association, as well as the NSW Labor Council are supporting the strike.
Michael Thomson and Ted Murphy (NTEU National Assistant Secretary) will be holding a press conference at 11am at the City Road gates.
For further information and comment:
Michael Thomson, Acting President, NTEU The University of Sydney Branch: