Recent members’ meetings overwhelmingly endorsed a half-day strike for Wednesday, 30 August. All Swinburne Higher Education NTEU members will walk off the job from 12.30 pm (professional staff to join us at the start of their lunch hour from 12.30 pm, with official strike action beginning for them at 1.30 pm).
The executive at our university has made it clear that it wants to remove more than a hundred rights and protections from a future agreement with staff.
We stand to lose significant conditions and protections, including rights to representation, due process, and intellectual and academic freedom. Their loss would mean a radical diminution in our conditions and a workplace in which our voice does not count.
We will stand together on Wednesday to say no to these proposals. It's time for Swinburne's executive to show its staff the respect we have earned and deserve.
So don’t get SWiNDLED – join us at 12.30 pm on the corner of John Street and Wakefield Streets (Swinergy corner), Hawthorn campus, Wednesday, 30 August, for a BBQ lunch and rally.
Practical details and templates are pasted below. If you would like to help with painting banners or putting up posters, please let us know at [email protected].
Download our strike posters here and put these up in your tea rooms. Additional strike materials, including zoom backgrounds, will be uploaded to https://www.nteu.au/bargaining/Swinburne before the end of the day.
Together, we can win an agreement that works for you.
Read our Media Release here.
I have night classes or a night shift. When does the strike end?
The strike will end at 11.59 pm Wednesday, 30 August 2023.
Why has the NTEU said that professional staff will join at 12.30 pm, but they will not be on strike officially until 1.30 pm?
This is to prevent professional staff members from being docked pay for their 1-hour unpaid lunch break. We ask that professional staff join us at the start of their lunch break from 12.30 pm and stay through their official strike start time of 1.30 pm.
What events are planned for the half-day strike?
We will have a BBQ lunch, followed by a rally. We will also be awarding prizes for the best chant and the best poster. If you are musically talented, or even if you like to make some noise, please bring a musical instrument if you have one!
I'd like to bring my children, partner, or friends, is that ok?
Absolutely. The more, the merrier.
Instructions for responding to management:
Before the strike action, you have no obligation to advise management about your participation in the bans. If management asks whether you are participating in the bans, direct their enquiry to NTEU.
However, once the strike is underway, we encourage members to send the following short note to managers that you will engage in the industrial action.
The NTEU has notified protected industrial action of a half-day stoppage of work starting at 12.30 pm on the 30 August in pursuit of a new Agreement. Please be advised that I am participating in the industrial action.
Remember that this is protected industrial action, and you cannot be penalised for participating in the strike. However, non-members cannot legally take action, so encourage your colleagues to join the union. See our suggested email below.
Out of office automatic reply starting on Monday, 28 August.
Please be advised that after 12.30 pm on 30 August, I will be unavailable as I will be participating in a stop work notified by the NTEU in support of a fair and just Enterprise Agreement. I apologise for any inconvenience.
Student email for students whose classes have been cancelled.
Dear student,
The NTEU has notified a stop work on Wednesday, 30 August, from 12.30 pm, as part of its industrial action in support of a fair and just Enterprise Agreement. We have been negotiating with the University for almost 9 months, and while our claims are modest, the University is intent on stripping away many hard-won working conditions and protections. I will be participating in the stop work, so unfortunately, your class for the afternoon of the 30th will be cancelled. While this may be inconvenient, please remember that staff working conditions are student learning conditions. We are taking this action to ensure our university is a vibrant, supportive learning environment for students and staff.
Template text for communicating with colleagues and managers.
Dear xxxxx
Swinburne staff are taking a range of industrial actions while negotiating for a new enterprise agreement, including a series of bans and a half-day strike on Wednesday, 30 August.
I am joining this action because our enterprise agreement expired over two years ago, and the National Tertiary Education Union has been in discussions with representatives from Swinburne's executive for a new enterprise agreement for nearly 9 months.
Rather than improving our wages and conditions, the executive wants to strip over a hundred existing rights and conditions from a new agreement, including intellectual and academic freedom, rights to representation and due process. They also want to:
remove conversion rights for casual staff
increase the hurdles for contract staff conversion
increase the span of ordinary hours for professional staff; and
increase allocated hours for academic staff
All Swinburne staff deserve reasonable workloads, decent pay, job security, and equality of leave and superannuation.
If we stand together, we can secure an agreement that works for, not against, us.
Will you join us? https://www.nteu.au/join