Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader and Education spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens strongly support UTAS staff taking industrial action today.
On behalf of UTAS staff, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has been negotiating with University management over pay, conditions, job security and academic freedom for almost a year.
It’s clear dedicated UTAS employees are fed up, and feel undervalued and insecure in their work.
Industrial action starts today.
The discontent over management style and the direction of UTAS has been simmering among staff for a long time.
Faculties like Law are being gutted, courses have been moved online, and campus life is dying while UTAS management focusses its energy on a divisive, unconsulted move in to the city.
It’s not the buildings, it’s the staff and students who make a university great.
Without good staff who are on decent pay and conditions, with real job security and career progression pathways, and a university culture that fosters academic freedom, UTAS will continue to lose appeal as a place of learning.
Increasingly, it seems like UTAS has lost its way.
On behalf of the Greens, I respectfully urge UTAS management to undergo a serious rethink about their priorities.
It’s time to start negotiating in good faith with the NTEU.