Hundreds of Australian university staff members are planning to walk off the job, escalating disruption to an academic year already affected by travel bans, lockdowns, and job cuts. The National Higher Education Action Network, a group of activist academics, voted overwhelmingly on Monday to endorse a protest plan that could lead to strike action.
The meeting, attended by 460 members at its peak, supported the plan 'with the goal of making democratically planned unprotected industrial action possible'. The group also voted to 'mount a vigorous campaign of coordinated actions' in response to funding cuts and to protect university jobs.
Unprotected industrial action refers to strikes or work suspensions outside enterprise bargaining agreements, which can result in large fines for individuals and unions. Dr Nick Riemer told the Guardian: 'Striking is recognised as a very basic right of working people and it is unacceptable that it is restricted as it is in this country.'
Australian universities have been severely impacted by coronavirus travel bans, with international students providing 26 per cent of higher education revenues in 2018. The sector could lose up to $5 billion in revenue in 2020 alone. Public universities are not eligible for JobKeeper payments, leading to large-scale layoffs. Deakin University has announced 419 job cuts, UNSW has cut 500 jobs, Monash 300, and UTS fears 500 may be on the line.
Sweeping changes to university fees announced in June by Education Minister Dan Tehan have added further upheaval, increasing fees for arts, commerce, and law while reducing them for teaching, science, maths, and engineering. A large-scale public protest involving the National Tertiary Education Union, the National Union of Students, and secondary school groups is planned before the October budget.
