Rank-And-File-Action (RAFA) are excited that at today’s USyd NTEU meeting, members endorsed a series of steps to continue building our Enterprise Agreement campaign.
Over 200 people attended today’s members meeting, with 70% supporting a motion to start escalating our industrial campaign, by calling a mass strike meeting on August 2nd to vote on strikes in week three, followed by strike action on Open Day. A further 24% supported a counterposed motion to call a 48-hour strike immediately. While we’re disappointed that what we regard as a small tactical disagreement was raised to the level of strategy and principle, we’re happy that we can now move together as a branch towards serious organising and equally serious strike action.
We know that to win working conditions commensurate with providing the high-quality education that students deserve, we will need to take further industrial action, including more strikes and pickets in semester two.
We also know that to make strikes and pickets as effective as possible, we will need to recruit new members to the union, and increase member engagement by organising local area meetings, forums and information sessions. We need to recruit, organise, and mobilise.
The next step in the campaign is to make sure there is a strong turn out to the mass strike meeting on August 2nd. A resounding ‘YES’ to a strike in week three from hundreds of members will send a clear signal to management that we are serious about conversion rights for casuals and pay for all hours worked; an end to the attacks on the 40-40-20 and the research-teaching nexus; enforceable First Nations employment targets; and, secure and permanent jobs for professional staff.
Please get involved to help us build awareness and participation in the EA campaign. The first of these will be a phone banking session, which you can sign up for here. Watch this space for more!