NTEU Vic to live-tweet and twitpic university strike
The NTEU today announced that it will be giving live updates of the Wednesday 16 September university strike on Twitter. The strike will affect the University of Melbourne and RMIT.
“This is the first major strike that we have ever live-tweeted, and is the first time the NTEU anywhere in Australia has used the instant communications available on social media to send messages, images and video of picket lines and the rally,” said Matthew McGowan, Victorian state secretary of the NTEU.
“NTEU officers will be on picket lines at both RMIT and Melbourne University to send live updates of events using Twitter. This will allow NTEU members and supporters from other universities who are not taking industrial action to follow what is going on,” he said.
The NTEU will also be video recording the pickets at both universities and uploading it to YouTube, where it will be watched by staff at the University of Ballarat.
“It’s not often that staff from the University of Ballarat can watch, support and participate online with the action at another university such as RMIT or Melbourne University,” said Jeremy Smith, the University of Ballarat staff president.
“We are able to do this because a significant number of university staff use online social networking, such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. At the last rally we held, we got a lot of requests from staff who stayed home or who were overseas, asking for Twitpics and video clips of events as they unfolded,” Mr McGowan said.
“In the lead up to these strikes at Melbourne and RMIT, in addition to calling all our members, we did a short YouTube video to promote the rally. The video was distributed via Twitter and Facebook and received over 2,500 views within the first three hours,” he said.
Staff at Melbourne and RMIT will be rallying at 12:45pm at the University Square. There will be picket lines at the main entrances of both universities from 7am. The strike will last 24 hours, affecting Melbourne University’s Parkville campus and RMIT’s city campuses.
Staff at Melbourne and RMIT have been trying to conclude collective bargaining since mid-2008. Over 3000 staff will be eligible to go on strike.
EVENT DETAILS AND PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
RMIT and MELBOURNE: Rally at 12:45pm at University Square, corner Grattan St and Leicester St, Carlton South.
For more information:
Matthew McGowan, State Secretary, NTEU Victorian Division, 0417 054 110
Comments
There are no comments. Be the first to have your say!