Students Support Staff Strikes at USYD!
On May 11 & 12, staff at Sydney University will go on strike for 48 hours. They will stop all work and demand better working conditions and pay. This is a great thing, and we must fight too!
This opportunity only comes every 4 years, and the last few years have been brutal for staff. Many hundreds have been laid off, many thousands of casuals effectively made redundant, and entire faculties have been restructured or cut all together. 1 in 5 university staff in Australia have been made redundant. But this year is a chance to fight back.
By refusing to work, staff show management who really makes the university run. They are asking for reasonable workloads determined by staff; conversion for casuals onto permanent contracts; and a pay rise of 12% over three years. They are also demanding the research to teaching ratio remain in place, rather than management's plan of only a few academics being afforded time to partake in research. After years of attacks and extreme pressure, they deserve all this and more.
Staff working conditions are student learning conditions. How can tutors deliver a quality education when they are overworked, underpaid and precariously employed? Staff and students also have a shared enemy; the bosses who run this university like a corporation. The profits of managers like Vice Chancellor Mark Scott come at the expense of students and staff. Their million dollar plus salaries come from and are justified by cutting courses and staff jobs, putting staff under increasing pressure and cramming more students into their classes.
In previous strikes in 2013 and 2017, students have stood side by side with staff to make the strikes successful. Both struggles saw key staff demands being won. We need to aim for the same thing to happen again!
When staff strike, they will ask of students one simple demand: don't go to class! Us students should resoundingly answer that call to arms, and instead of going to class or studying at the library, join staff on the picket lines!
Staff and students united, will never be defeated!
This petition is organised by the USyd SRC Education Action Group.
We, (undersigned), support staff going on strike and commit to going to their picket.
