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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Gabriel Fowler

University of Newcastle staff prepare to strike

STUDENTS are being forewarned of strike action being organised by the National Tertiary Education Union on Wednesday, March 29.

University of Newcastle People and Culture Chief Martin Sainsbury has emailed staff to warn of a 1.5 hour work stoppage from 10.50am to 12.20pm.

In the email, he says only about 10-12 per cent of staff at the uni are members of the union "so most of our ... activities will continue as normal".

"More importantly, our university will remain open and operational," the email says.

This week's stop work is the latest action being taken by academics in a long running industrial battle over wages and conditions.

Newcastle branch president Terry Summers said they had been working with the university for 18 months to try to reach an agreement.

"We got hit pretty hard over the change period during COVID and that showed us that the uni can sack at will so we want better job security," he said.

"We've had a huge impact in terms of workload, academic workloads are increasing enormously, and the pay rates that the university has offered have been insulting. We have been trying to get them to move on that for ages."

The stop work was to meet with members to discuss where to go from here, he said.

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