Student union representatives will support striking University of Wollongong staff members and join pickets on campus on Tuesday.
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The action will be held from noon, the same time as UOW academics join forces with BlueScope steelworkers to protest in Wollongong Mall, as part of national union movement Change the Rules.
University professors, associate professors, lecturers and tutors are striking as part of a campaign against the increasing trend of casualisation and short-term contracts at the university in place of secure permanent employment.
The steelworkers are engaged in their own campaign to retrieve some of the pay and conditions given up in 2015 as part of a deal to help BlueScope keep the gates at Port Kembla open.
The Wollongong Undergraduate Students’ Association (WUSA) representatives are encouraging UOW students to “skip class to support our staff”.
WUSA education officer and assistant secretary Isabelle Liddy expects most students will be happy to skip class to support their teachers.
“Not going to class for one day is a small sacrifice to help staff fight for fair pay, secure work and respect which will help to improve the quality of education that students receive,” Liddy said.
WUSA welfare officer Charlie Gonzalez said the October 23 strike was important in challenging insecure work at UOW and across Wollongong.
“This coming strike is of crucial importance because student welfare is the first to be impacted by the casualisation of staff and their poor pay and conditions,” he said.
“Staff insecurity creates an unhappy and difficult place for students to be at, because there is no guarantee of continuity or standards from one semester to the next.”