What Every WSU Student NEEDS To Know This Morning

Tens of thousands of Western Sydney University students will see classes disrupted this morning as staff across the facility walk off the job.

Members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) will strike from 9am Thursday in protest over what they say is uncertain employment conditions at the university.

According to a statement by the union, more than half of WSU staff are signed to insecure contracts and are appealing for job security, fair pay and a say in their new enterprise agreement.

“Western Sydney University is in a state of turmoil, anxiety and distress,” NTEU WSU branch president David Burchell said.

“Hundreds of professional staff are being required to attend interviews to secure jobs in the ‘new structure’, often at lower classification levels.

“Many staff may well end their careers in a more junior position than they had when they arrived.

“Casualisation is a threat to job security, and a plague on higher education.

“Casuals are underpaid, have no career path, and no predictable income.”

While WSU students have been warned about the strike, senior lecturer and NTEU Hawkesbury branch secretary Robyn Moroney said the union were hoping for support from the wider campus.

“The students have been told ahead of time if classes will be disrupted,” she told the Hawkesbury Gazette. “It’s their last week of semester so for a lot of people it’s about revision.

“We’re trying to pull people together and it’s really a solidarity thing.

“We’re not trying to be destructive as people often associate with this sort of action, but because we’re so spread out we want to cluster at one point.”

Buses from WSU’s Hawkesbury, Campbelltown, Kingswood and Bankstown campuses will transport staff to Parramatta South campus for a rally starting at 10am.