As Newcastle observes May Day and the University of Newcastle celebrates its 60th anniversary, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the significance of union membership.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) represents university workers. At the University of Newcastle, our members include academics, professional staff, researchers, librarians, teachers, and support personnel. We educate, assist students, maintain operations, and shape the institution. Our commitment stems from the university's vital role in the community it serves.
The University of Newcastle stands as a crucial public institution at the heart of the region. It provides opportunities for local students, enriches the Hunter community, and carries a legacy rooted in working-class efforts and collective action. The university emerged from a campaign, supported by the labour movement, to ensure higher education is accessible to all who seek it. Union members contributed from their wages, shilling by shilling, to help build the university library.
This history underscores the union's current importance. NTEU members at UON have united through a challenging year. Staff have confronted budget cuts, job insecurity, excessive workloads, and decisions often disconnected from the realities of university life. Management has frequently acted as though the university is a corporation first and a public institution second. This mindset harms not only UON staff and students but also the broader community. The Hunter region deserves a university managed in the public interest.
NTEU members have organised, campaigned, and taken strike action to secure stable employment, fair workloads, and quality education. When management hosted an invitation-only 60th anniversary event at NSW Parliament House, we were there, on strike outside Parliament, presenting our case to the public and ensuring those inside could hear us.
Part of our case involves exposing management's use of unaudited figures to manufacture a crisis and justify job cuts. These figures transformed a $61.3 million surplus into an apparent deficit. Staff were told the university was unsustainable, yet audited accounts revealed a 2024 surplus and net assets exceeding $1.8 billion.
Union membership matters because it connects us to something greater than any single workplace or campaign. We are part of a movement that defends working people and protects the public institutions our community relies on. At UON, this means standing up for truth, quality higher education, decent jobs, and a university that genuinely serves the people of Newcastle and the Hunter.
