By Ben Reid

MELBOURNE -- An estimated 2000 workers from the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) attended a stop-work meeting on May 8. Meetings were also held in other centres. The purpose was to reaffirm the union's push for a 15% pay rise and oppose the Howard government's threatened cuts to higher education.

The meetings registered strong support for both campaigns. NTEU president Caroline Alport pointed out the "bogus nature" of the federal government's alleged $8 billion deficit. "In reality this has been largely manufactured by the Treasury to justify `slash and burn' policies in the public sector."

Pointing to the example of what has happened in New Zealand, she called for a coalition of all higher education groups to oppose the cuts. Some queried Alport's assessment that the cuts could not be justified because higher education was "the economy's highest export earner", arguing for defence of an equitable public education sector.

The meeting passed a national motion calling for a week of action starting May 27, with a 24-hour strike on May 30 and a public rally on May 30 with the support of student organisations.

Jeremy Smith reports that 70 NTEU members attended the stop-work meeting in Ballarat. Industrial officer Ken McAlpine introduced the national motion to the meeting by stating, "We are at a crossroads of how people see their membership of the NTEU. In the past people paid their dues and left it to the so-called experts in the NTEU to argue the case in the courts. The system has changed to direct negotiations based on productivity gains. They don't necessarily have to pay the increase now. That means people have to be involved in the union's campaigns."

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