By David Carey
Federal Secretary (SPSF Group) - CPSU Joint National Secretary
Higher education general staff from Universities and TAFE colleges throughout Australia will join other staff in a national day of action on June 1.
CPSU-SPSFFederal Secretary, David Carey said more than 20,000 general staff will protest against the Federal Government's announcement that it was forcing higher education institutions into offering individual contracts to all staff in exchange for funding.
The form of protest action will be decided at mass meetings of CPSU-SPSF members next week.
"University and TAFE staff have told us that they don't want to work in an environment where they are competing against each other for the shrinking dollars going into higher education," he said.
Most earn under $60,000 a year, are employed casually and were finding it increasingly difficult to keep their heads above water.
"Our members know they earn more and work under better conditions if they join together to bargain collectively with their employer.
"The right to choose to be in a union and have that union negotiate for us is a right that we should all have and Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA's) are a direct attack on that right," said Mr Carey.
University and TAFE general staff include all the non-academic staff of universities in professional, administrative, clerical and technical areas.
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