We are a group of rank-and-file unionists in the National Tertiary Education Union, at Sydney University, fighting for a fair university and education for all.
The Sydney Uni NTEU voted to strike again in week 10, demanding:
a real pay rise,
serious casual rights (conversion rights, pay for all hours worked, sick pay, and mass job creation),
professional staff rights (internal staff rehiring, redeployment windows, and equal redundancy)
40/40/20 academic workload protections.
After over 13 months of negotiations, we are still a long way from reaching a fair settlement for staff, and striking is our only way to send a strong message to management that the union is serious about winning a fair agreement.
We want to make this action as strong and serious as possible and are calling members to redouble their efforts in building the strike!
As a University Library NTEU delegate, it’s great to see RAFA pulling together a strong network of capable, articulate and energetic USyd union members. The RAFA team have a proven track record standing up for – and with – their colleagues in their work units and faculties, and campaigning for job security, Indigenous and Trans justice at work, and career pathways for all staff in the current EBA campaign. They’re also doing the hard yards to win increased democracy and transparency in our union – at the Branch, Division and National level.
I urge all members to vote for RAFA at the upcoming NTEU elections. In particular, professional staff should vote for Dylan Griffiths (HDR Student Admin Services staff and candidate for General Vice President, Branch Committee and National Council) and Matte Rochford (Student Centre staff and Professional Staff candidate for Branch Committee).
I’ll be voting for RAFA candidates in the USyd branch elections. I’ve seen Nick, Dylan and Riki close up in political, solidarity and union activities over many years. They’ve got the deep principles, dedication and nous to represent our branch successfully at multiple levels – particularly at this crucial time for university staff and students.
I’ve had the pleasure of working on many staff-student campaigns with Dani at University of Melbourne. I’ve always been impressed with Dani’s measured responses to adversity and her ability to convince students and staff to question the status quo on climate justice, racism, transphobia and wage theft. It’s no surprise that Dani has brought that same spirit into bargaining at USyd. Her tenacity and determination to build rank and file activism in the NTEU is inspiring. Vote for Dani for USyd branch committee. I have no doubt she will continue to be an amazing voice for trans rights and rank and file involvement – something desperately needed in the NTEU.
“I will be supporting RAFA in the upcoming NTEU elections because they are offering a clear and principled approach to winning real gains for University staff. Their commitment to job security, fair pay, an end to the exploitation of casuals, and a more inclusive and socially just University is commendable. I have had the privilege to know several RAFA members as committed activists who have worked tirelessly in promoting RAFA’s goals over many years. The strength of our union comes from the rank-and-file membership and RAFA represents a commitment to member-driven activism for real change at our university.”
I am honoured to endorse RAFA in the upcoming elections. Our university needs a militant and nonsectarian Left committed to upholding and improving our conditions. In the recent strike action, RAFA unionists led from the front to demand job security, fair pay and social justice. RAFA is also committed to further democratise and expand our local branch by working with everyone to reach our common goals as university workers. So vote RAFA in the upcoming elections to return proven champions of real change.
I retired early from the University of Sydney back in 2016, because amongst other things, I hated the way the place was going. It was all too easy to see the direction the management was taking the place, especially undervaluing the staff and regarding the international students as resources to be soaked. Since then with COVID and the ever more overt hostility of the Coalition governments things have got so much worse.
So I welcome and offer my support to the Rank And File Action ticket because they address the casualisation, the insecure work, the miserable pay for the precariously employed and they demand a more inclusive university. That they also stand for an extensive social justice program is the other reason I support RAFA because sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, and justice for First Nations and the question of peace, not war, are all workers’ issues, and should be matters for unions to take up and campaign about.
Traditionally we have looked to the academy to comment on all such issues, from the standpoint of expertise and ethics not swayed by vested interests. Sadly the precarious nature of university employment has cowed so many in the tertiary sector that such independent opinion is far rarer than it should be. Fighting on a workplace basis to gain teaching and research staff permanency with adequate pay and restore the dignity of the university workforce is important not only for the workers themselves, but for the health of our society.
As a union member who is deeply troubled by the attacks on our university community by management, RAFA colleagues have brought hope. I am proud to endorse their ticket which offers a new way forward . I have been inspired by their clear activist vision, their inclusive political debates, their intellectual generosity, their thoughtful vision for a better, more just world and the diverse range of perspectives and life experience on the RAFA ticket; here is a group that brings the best of dynamic activist politics to the challenges that define our lives. We have a chance this election to build a new consensus amongst union members, one that strengthens our solidarity. I’m excited by the smart, committed leadership of RAFA candidates.
RAFA colleagues and supporters have helped this Singaporean, a cultural stranger to union organising, imagine and see what it means to build a good political life. I admire their collegiality, tactics, sense of fairness, leadership and their keen awareness and commitment to a broad vision of social justice beyond the university. RAFA members clearly understand that the university has a role in socialising society: what we fight for at the uni is always in solidarity with workers everywhere else. RAFA’s dynamic and diverse team is committed to and collectively aligned with the interests of a broad constituency. Shout out to Finola Laughren, Gender and Cultural Studies scholar, putting into practice queer and feminist knowledge and methodologies to shape RAFA’s radical politics!
Rank-And-File Action USYD 