BARGAINING
AT UTS
WHERE | UTS Main Tower
WHAT | Assembly from 8am, Staff rally at 12pm
Our bargaining team has been tirelessly advocating for member-endorsed claims in negotiation with UTS management.
But after 6 long months at the bargaining table, UTS Management have refused our claims for job security, safe workloads, reproductive health leave and a fair pay rise that keeps up with the rising cost of living.
NTEU members don’t take the decision to strike lightly, but pressure works!
Together, we can force management to do right by staff and that’s why we’re taking industrial action, but we need staff to turn up.
So, pledge to strike now!
Not a member? It’s more important than ever to join the NTEU. Only NTEU members are protected in taking Industrial Action; your union colleagues are fighting to win a better Enterprise Agreement for everyone!
Pledge to strike!
We need EVERY member out on strike to send a strong message to UTS management!
Your Title Goes Here
You’ve pledged to strike, now what?
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1. To talk to your colleagues about striking, encouraging all members to pledge to strike and be at the rally (check out our Industrial Action Fact Sheet);
2. Put up posters and hand out flyers in your workplace to promote the strike;
3. Invite your colleagues to join the NTEU!
Remember, the more people turn up, the closer we get to reaching agreement that will mean real improvements to our working lives.
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More on Bargaining at UTS
Through Enterprise Bargaining, staff at UTS, lead by NTEU members get a chance to negotiate for improvements to our workplace and working conditions.
Our union negotiated Enterprise Agreement expired on 31st August 2025 and NTEU members endorsed our union Log of Claims to improve our next Agreement.
Through our collective campaigning we’ve won we’ve things like no forced redundancies, saving International Studies and Languages, and fewer redundancies targeting existing staff.
UTS has also proposed to:
- Eliminate annual step salary increases for Professional Staff which are automatic, instead tying them to workplanning and performance;
- Remove the casual conversion program and fixed-term conversion programs (that gave secure work to hundreds staff);
- Create part-year 95% teaching contracts;
- Slash workload protections allowing managerial prerogative to circumvent caps on hours and WHS protections.
UTS tries to hide their horrible behaviour behind the closed doors of the bargaining table so that they can paint union members as the unreasonable and disruptive ones, but your union colleagues are fighting to win a better Enterprise Agreement for everyone!
If you have more questions, want to know about NTEU campaigns, understand what it means to take industrial action, or even are just a little curious
Collective Action Works
University staff across Australia have been horrified by the treatment of UTS staff at the hands of the current Vice-Chancellor. But in equal parts they’re heartened by what NTEU members have been able to achieve by standing together and pushing for what they believe in.
Just last year, staff voted overwhelmingly to declare they had no confidence in Vice-Chancellor Andrew Parfitt, with 95% of voters supporting the motion. In this historic vote, open to all UTS staff members, more than 1500 UTS staff participated.
The extraordinary rebuke followed months of key failures of the VC’s leadership team and the ‘Operational Sustainability Initiative’, which has proposed cutting hundreds of jobs and suspending enrolments in over 120 courses.
Between the vote of no confidence, strong participation in the union’s protected action ballot, and members’ powerful half-day strike (which coincided with backtracking on some of the worst aspects VC’s Academic Change Proposal!) NTEU members have demonstrated that when we take action together, Management is forced to make change.
Just last week, the VC cancelled the in-person portion of his first townhall of the year! The VC is feeling the pressure and has seen what staff can achieve when they stand together.
