UWS staff strike against merger

BY PAUL BENEDEK

SYDNEY — The campaign against the amalgamation of the campuses of the University of Western Sydney has been boosted following a successful half-day strike by 2300 staff on November 1. Staff and students joined forces to picket all seven UWS campuses. Most staff and students respected the picket lines, closing the university.

The UWS management is pushing ahead with the amalgamation, without giving guarantees that staff jobs or students' quality of education will be maintained.

The National Tertiary Education Union and the Community and Public Sector Union are demanding that the quality of teaching and services be maintained and that job security for staff be guaranteed without any erosion to existing working conditions.

The campaign has received strong support from students. UWS Bankstown and Nepean students associations pledged support to the strikers and promised inform and organise students to unite with staff in their campaign.

A full-day strike is to take place on November 9. Staff have foreshadowed a ban on the transmission of exam results if the dispute is not resolved.<~>n

From GLW issue 427