I’m Cian Galea, a fixed term Research Assistant in the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy and Services). I have been an active member of the NTEU and the Cases Committee since I started at the University in January of this year. I immediately threw myself into the work of building our industrial campaign from the start of my time here, including by serving as a picket captain and coordinating the NTEU’s leafletting efforts last semester. With the help of all the comrades who joined me in that effort early in the mornings and in the afternoon, we were able to cover seven entrances to the University in our final week of leafletting. I am excited to continue to build on this essential work of consciousness raisingand reaching beyond the ‘converted’ to the wider layers of potential union members. This is a perspective I’d love to see represented on the Branch Committee and encouraged as standard union practice.
I also believe I have unique experience to bring to the Branch Committee as a former Union Industrial Officer and member of the Employment and Industrial Team at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. I have been using this experience as part of my work through the Cases Committee since the first day of my second week of work when I served as a support person for one of our comrades. I love representing members in industrial matters and I think that my experience in this regard would allow me to bring a unique perspective to the Branch Committee.
I would like to use my experience in the union movement and in employment law on the Branch Committee to further help streamline and manage the work of the Cases Committee. We will soon be getting access to the NTEU’s new CRM software, which will facilitate our self-tracking of activity and the progress in our cases. However, it also represents a chance to give rank-and-file members the opportunity to assume a supervisory role in the management of cases from when they start to when they finish or are escalated to an Industrial Officer.
I also want to use my employment law experience to help explore new forms of industrial action, to circumvent anti-worker laws, and to continue the strike action that has already helped win us $1000 and a 2.1% pay increase.
I’m running as a member of Rank And File Action. We’re a group of union members seeking to extend our industrial campaign in Semester Two. We believe our union could be even stronger with more concerted organising, recruitment, and engagement. We’re made up of academic and professional staff, ongoing and casual, and we want to see the university reflect the voices of its workers.
We’ve come out of three days of strike action with a boost in membership and lots of good press coverage. We have a real chance to make change happen at the University – but that needs our vibrant grassroots campaign to continue and grow across Semester Two. We’ll need to bring new members on board, build towards even stronger strike action, and conclude negotiations not only with a fairer contract but a stronger union.
Vote [1] David Brophy for Academic VP
Vote [1] Dylan Griffiths for General VP
Vote [1] Finola Laughren for Casual BC
Vote [1] to [8] for Ordinary Committee Member: [1] Markela Panegyres, [2] Dylan Griffiths, [3] Dani Cotton, [4] Cian Galea, [5] Ben Miller, [6] Luke Alexander, [7] Matte Rochford, and [8] Ben Graham
For a full how-to-vote and to find out how you can get more involved, go to https://rafausyd.wordpress.com
Rank-And-File Action USYD 