Hundreds of National Tertiary Education Union members are set to launch a major rally in Brisbane on Thursday as strike action ramps up across Queensland universities.
NTEU members across five universities will walk off the job from 12pm as part of a continued industrial action in support of secure jobs, safe workloads and a real pay rise.
Union members at the University of Queensland, QUT and Griffith University will attend a rally at King George Square to put the sector's crisis in the spotlight.
Members at James Cook University and Central Queensland University are also stopping work, while members at UniSC and UniSQ will gather in solidarity actions.
Quotes attributable to NTEU Queensland Secretary, Michael McNally:
"People are always shocked when I tell them that if you work at a public university you are far more likely to be employed casually than if you work at Coles or Woolies.
"University business models are built on cheap casual labour which leads to wage theft and ridiculous workloads for staff lucky enough to have an ongoing job.
"Members registering for the rally have been asked why they are attending and there are common themes around secure work, workloads and a real pay rise."
Quotes attributable to Laura Irvine-Brown, an academic staff member from Griffith:
"Without collective action it is clear university management is not going to put staff needs above their corporate agendas.
"Workloads are a big issue to me, and they are excessive across the sector, to the extent that this has significant implications on staff health and wellbeing."
Quotes attributable to Martin Webster, professional staff member, University of Queensland:
"I love my job, I love my university, I love knowing that in some small way I am contributing to the betterment of the future, but I'm sick and tired of letting our hard work become executives' bonuses.
"I can't keep standing idly by while the university sector prioritises new managers and executives, while leaving operational staff like us to pick up the slack. We need to stop letting the university use our goodwill so they can buy buildings and investments."
