Led by members.
Built for action.

We’re the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) – University of Sydney Branch: the largest group of university employees in NSW working together to improve the lives of staff and students.

Our members include academic, professional, technical, and casual staff—people who keep teaching, research, and student life running every day. We’re part of the broader NTEU NSW Division and national union, but our focus here is local: standing up for secure jobs, fair workloads, safe workplaces, and a university that puts education and community before corporate priorities.

Union members at the University of Sydney have won some of the best working conditions in the country through collaboration and struggle. Your membership in the NTEU is critical to defending the conditions we’ve won, holding management to account and to further improving our working lives.

From the weekend and sick leave to 17% superannuation and parental leave, union members made it happen. Our democratically-led branch has a proud history of leadership in bargaining, working to delivery the conditions that lead the sector and the country.

We’ve also seen how management decisions made without transparency or genuine consultation can reshape entire faculties and undermine the work of hundreds of staff. Whether it’s rushed restructures, relentless workload pressures, job insecurity, or governance failures, when we act together, we make a difference.

Why you should join

Being in the union means you’re not facing these challenges alone. It means having support when things go wrong, and real power when we stand together. Our team of case support volunteers work behind the scenes, assisting members with issues in the workplace, and ensuring fair treatment and adherence to the requirements of the Enterprise Agreement.

Through collective action, we’ve protected conditions, pushed back against unfair decisions, demanded accountability from the executive, and defended the integrity of our work. Through the work of our volunteers, we represent members’ interests on consultative committees and through submissions, as well as being willing to campaign on issues of importance to our membership.

We’re building something better for the future: a university that reflects the values of its staff — fairness, respect, collaboration, and a commitment to high-quality education and research. The University of Sydney has a long tradition of innovation and social justice, and our branch continues that tradition by standing together to uphold the university’s mission and defend the people who make it work.