Endorsement: Chris Hartney

Studies in Religion

When the FASS departments of Studies in Religion and Performance Studies were threatened with closure my colleagues, Nick Riemer, Sophie Cotton, Matte Rochford, leading a hell of a lot of other NTEU members, stood up with me in defiance of these insane closures. They did all they could to fight the false economic arguments that were trying to put me and my colleagues out of our departments and our jobs. This is why I am thrilled and delighted to support them and my other dedicated colleagues running for the Rank and File Action Ticket (RAFA) in the coming Sydney Branch elections.

Unlike a majority of NTEU members at Sydney, I have had the privilege of serving on Branch Committee on and off. Through that experience I have seen close-at-hand who has been dedicated to our membership’s genuine needs, who was a little too eager to give into management bastardry, and who has a serious attitude to grassroots organising. Those years of service confirm in my mind that the hard work, considered strategies, and dedication of those on the RAFA ticket are worth supporting. Colleagues, take seriously the opportunity you have to vote in the coming Branch elections and please consider joining me in supporting the RAFA ticket. Our jobs and our workplace conditions will depend on it.

Endorsement: Shawna Tang

Senior lecturer in Gender and Cultural Studies

RAFA colleagues and supporters have helped this Singaporean, a cultural stranger to union organising, envision and understand what it means to be at odds with authority in ways that expand ethical possibilities. I admire RAFA colleagues for their well-informed and staunch politics and principles, as well as their commitment to building sustainable and enabling conditions of living and working beyond the university.

Endorsement: Coel Kirkby

Law School

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.

Endorsement: Mike Beggs

Political Economy Department

In branch work over the last few years it has become clear to me that USyd management is absolutely cynical in dealing with the union and staff. Managers speak in glib spin, while presenting a brick wall in negotiations over anything that matters. They take advantage of naive goodwill while wearing down opposition. In my view RAFA has the right strategy for this hostile industrial environment. It is not enough to preach to the converted hardcore – winning requires us to broaden our reach. RAFA has the sharp analysis, organising skills and incredible amount of energy it takes to do this work. They reflect and speak to the diversity of our colleagues, among whom secure academics with 40-40-20 loads are a diminishing proportion. I have found RAFA the most reliable allies in these difficult times.

Dylan Griffiths

I have grown the union and built power locally. I have enforced our hard-won EA: I’ve drafted wage claims, challenged unfair KPIs, and worked on industrial cases including conversion.

I am currently in the FMH education team, having previously worked in SAS, SOLES, and Study Abroad. I’ve been an active NTEU member since 2015.

If elected I will:

Fight for fair and proportional branch resourcing. We are the largest branch in the country and are significantly under-resourced!
Ensure we have an ambitious national bargaining strategy that engages members. With cost-of-living spiralling, the sector needs a real pay rise!
Advocate for Palestine, including the protection of staff who speak out against the genocide. I will call on the NTEU to adopt a national Boycott and Divestment position with resources to aid implementation.
Reform the union delegate program – the union needs significant structural reform that encourages growth and effective representation.
Be an effective professional staff voice.

My experience:

Branch organiser Western Sydney University (2016 and 2018)
Student Centre delegate (2018 – 2020)
Picket captain during strikes (2022 – 2023)
Branch Committee and National Councillor (2022 – 2023)

I’m asking for your vote to be your National Councillor. I’m running with Rank-and-File Action.

Dylan Griffiths, candidate for National Council

Nic Avery

Our union must advance casuals’ rights, be led by our membership, and champion solidarity with Palestine.

I’ve been a casual researcher and academic at USyd and an NTEU member since 2018, working in FMH, FASS and the Business School. I’m an active member in my workplace, which is currently the Pharmacy PhD shared office, where I work on my PhD. I’ve recruited several members, some through difficult, long and always respectful conversations. I’ve been involved in casuals’ rights activism at USyd for several years, contributing to the worker inquiry in 2020-21 that exposed wage theft in FASS. I was involved in the 2022-23 strike campaign, from handing out fliers to my role as picket captain alongside Finola Laughren and Sophie Cotton.

My unionism is informed (in part) by three principles:

1. Casuals’ rights. We are systematically exploited; we must be paid for the work we do.

2. Democracy. The voice of rank-and-file members is the most important factor in decisions made by the branch. We are the union.

3. Palestine solidarity. I proudly voted in favour of the institutional boycott of Israeli universities. We must work to enact this.

Lorenzo White

I am a Level B Academic in The School of Chemistry occupied mostly with research and teaching.

I love my job and I work hard and I expect recognition from the University for my contribution. This includes a reasonable work/life balance and job security. As an early career academic on a fixed-term contract, I am painfully aware of the terrible precarity and immense stress associated with our work. I believe the University can do much more to make us feel secure, relaxed and appreciated in our jobs. On the Branch Council, I will ensure the Union fights hard for better job security and working conditions. Solidarity and collective action are the best tools we have to improve our working lives.

I have a long history of union activism and have previously served as a union official in the construction industry. I have intimate and direct experience applying industrial relations and safety legislation to protect and expand workers’ rights.

I am running on the RAFA ticket because I want a democratic and fighting union.

Lorenzo White, candidate for branch committee

Finola Laughren

I’m Finola, a casual academic in the Discipline of Gender and Cultural Studies. I’m running for branch committee because I want to continue building a culture of member-led unionism across the university. As soon as I started working at USyd I joined the NTEU, and as soon as I joined the NTEU I started engaging in rank and file union activism: having countless recruiting conversations; supporting peers through case work; collaborating to organise local area meetings and campaign on casual rights; speaking at forums about how unionism is a vehicle for feminist politics and, more broadly, about how industrial improvements and social justice are inextricably connected. Being picket captain and striking for nine days cemented to me the fact that it is us as staff – academic, professional; permanent and precarious – who have the power to make the university the educational institution for public good it should be. I am proud of what we achieved in the last enterprise bargaining round, and I believe we can and should be even more ambitious next time.

I’m running with Rank And File Action (RAFA). Details about how you can get involved: http://rafausyd.com. Vote for us but, more importantly, join us.

Finola Laughren, candidate for Branch Committee

Sophie Cotton

“We won’t win in the courts what we can’t hold at the gates.”

I’m Sophie, a casual academic in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and I am running to represent old union principles like this one on the branch committee.

Our branch needs to empower members and delegates to take more independent actions—petitions, letters, and engaging local representatives. Central union bodies and local representatives often centralize control, but relying solely on courts, lawyers, union reps, media, or politicians won’t build union power.

For a stronger 2026 bargaining round, we need to increase union membership and activity now.

I’ve empowered local casuals to recruit their entire Business School unit to the union and end their wage theft, supported maths casuals to recover thousands of dollars, helped organize an NTEU delegation to support the Gomeroi struggle against gas expansion, led the fight for transgender rights, and supported the union struggle for Palestine.

I’ve also challenged central union decisions on wage claim limits, Palestine, opposition to AUKUS, and trans rights.

Please do more than vote for Rank And File Action—start building your own rank and file activity. We urgently need a bigger and more active union.

Sophie Cotton, candidate for Branch Committee and National Council

Tim White

My name is Tim White. I spent a decade as an academic in astronomy, completing postdocs at European and Australian universities, before landing a continuing professional staff position two years ago. I now support the research of others, working as a software engineer in the Sydney Informatics Hub. I have been an NTEU member since I returned to Australia in 2018.

I believe the best way to build the strength of our union is to prove that together we will fight for what is fair and just. We do this through campaigns and actions that build and show our broad support, but also knowing when to sit down and negotiate and turn that pressure into victories.

To this end, I have been active in our recent enterprise bargaining campaign, leafletting to build the strikes and acting as picket captain. Since then, I have been active in our professional staff EA enforcement committee. I have also taken part in wider union campaigns, namely in opposing fracking on Gomeroi lands, and as part of Unionists for Palestine.

That’s why I’m running to be an ordinary member of our branch committee, and why I’m running with Rank and File Action.