Jen Dowling for VP Professional

I am standing for a second term as Branch VP (General Staff) and National Council Representative to continue to bring our concerns to university management, our own USyd  branch, and the broader NTEU.

Universities in Australia are blessed with very talented, exceptionally dedicated general staff. And yet very often our voices are not heard, our accomplishments downplayed.

Our last — painfully long and personally costly — bargaining round granted us entitlements that are already being eroded. Flexible work arrangements are being pushed aside; workloads increased to the detriment of a work-life balance; incessant and often covert change plans emerge. Executive management, having little or no experience in our sector, have turned us into a for-profit corporation, as witnessed by our record-breaking financial surplus last year.

I want to see growth in our branch membership: more members living with disabilities, carers, and indigenous colleagues. I want a branch with higher engagement, with members who respectfully agree to disagree and who support a variety of political viewpoints.

Most importantly, I want to see our branch and the NTEU return to the work we should be doing: fighting for the well-being, security and safety of the USyd staff.  We need to look at the next two years strategically to retain those hard-fought entitlements and to plan for the next bargaining round.

Our branch, and indeed the NTEU as a whole, needs to look forward, to work not only for our present, but also for future members. By being inclusive, progressive, and collegial, we can create decent opportunities for all staff — academic as well as professional, newly hired as well as ‘long-timers’, continuing as well as casual.