University of Melbourne students in limbo as staff go on strike

Thousands of students at University of Melbourne may face up to a week of cancelled classes as teachers and staff prepare to go on strike.

University of Melbourne students may have classes cancelled for up to a week as teachers and staff go on strike. Picture: David Geraghty

Thousands of students at University of Melbourne may face up to a week of cancelled classes as teachers and staff prepare to go on strike.

It comes as negotiations between the institution and the National Tertiary Education Union appeared to break down, forcing union members to walk off the job from midday on Monday.

A vote to strike was passed by union members on Wednesday after a raft of issues – job security, workloads, compensation and flexible working – went unheard by representatives of vice chancellor Duncan Maskell.

Tense negotiations have reportedly dragged on for more than a year.

The Herald Sun understands union members were calling for either a 15 per cent wage increase over a three-year period or an increase in-line with rises in the consumer price index.

The University of Melbourne’s student services, stagecraft, library, Faculty of Arts, Law School and College of the Arts School of Art were expected to be impacted by staff shortages.

Thousands of students will likely be affected by the strike. Picture: David Geraghty

Thousands of students would likely be impacted by the strike action, according to the union’s Victorian division secretary Sarah Roberts.

“Strikes in arts and law will shut down whole subjects if not courses for the week,” she said.

Staff across five major Victorian universities descended on Melbourne’s CBD in May to demand the end of a dependency on casual workers and again call for improved pay.

A University of Melbourne spokesperson confirmed the institution, considered one of the country’s richest, would undertake further negotiations to address faculty concerns.

“As experienced across the entire sector, regrettably bargaining has typically been protracted,” the spokesman said.

“The university respects the rights of those individuals who choose to participate in the industrial action, and those who choose not to.”

Alternative arrangements were expected to be made to ensure minimal disruptions for students.