NTEU Fightback was formed in 2020 in opposition to the Jobs Protection Framework – a 15% self-imposed pay cut proposed nationally by the NTEU national leadership. Since then, we’ve consistently argued that workers at the University of Sydney (like workers everywhere) only get what we fight for. We’ve argued that serious strike action is needed to improve our pay and conditions. We’ve opposed any attempts to trade off our hard-won conditions for empty promises of “job security”. We’ve stood up to our own union leaders when needed, for a more democratic, transparent and member-led union.
Who we are
Alma Torlakovic
NTEU USYD Branch Committee member
NTEU National Councillor
Professional Staff
HDR Admin Centre
I’m a professional staff member at the HDR Admin Centre and have been a staunch unionist for 15 years. As a leading member of the Branch Committee, Campaign Committee and National Council, I’ve played a key role in keeping management and our union leadership accountable. I’ve spent years supporting members: fighting to save jobs, campaigning against metrics, and advocating for WHS and Work From Home rights.
I’m a founding member of NTEU Fightback, a group of workers that want to rebuild our union.
Jennifer Huch-Hoogvliet
Professional Staff
Central Operations Services
I’m professional staff in Central Operations Services. I’ve been centrally involved in the campaign against the restructuring Research and Education Technical Services and in supporting academic staff in the School of Medical Sciences during the academic reorganisation. I’m also a Health and Safety Representative and a leader in the Cases Committee, where I help NTEU members experiencing workplace issues.
As a staunch unionist and member of NTEU Fightback, I led strikes to defend our pay and conditions, and fought to keep striking in the last EBA campaign. I was picket captain and helped win people over to the union.
The results of the last EBA campaign were not good enough to give in and I fought to continue, especially against conceding to a real wage cut and the introduction of hundreds of teaching-focused roles. We need a union that is prepared to not just talk big but actually fight.
We need a union that is not prepared to sell off conditions for a crumbs and empty promises from management. We need a union that fights and that is what myself and my colleagues in NTEU Fightback want to see.
Vinil Kumar
Professional Staff
Student Administration Services
Having worked previously in the Student Centre, I’ve seen first hand the pressure that a university run for profit puts on staff.
Despite a half a billion dollar surplus, we’re refused a pay rise that keeps up with the cost of living, made to take on greater workloads and, despite the marketing spin, Sydney *selectively* Listens to us. We’re always being asked to make sacrifices for the bottom line. Enough is enough.
In our last EA campaign, we ended up with a deal that was a real-terms pay cut and took key conditions backwards. Our strikes were too spread out and didn’t put enough pressure on management. We have to be honest about these mistakes and not repeat them.
I’m the current Health and Safety Representative for SAS and am no stranger to standing up to management. I pushed for more strike action and against sacrificing conditions in the last strike campaign; and for our union to stand in solidarity with Palestine.
USYD staff need and deserve a better union!
Katja Heath
Academic Staff
History & Art History
I have been a casual worker in the history and art history departments since 2010. I have been active in both the Casuals Network and the NTEU USyd Job Security & Casuals’ Rights Network. I helped organise and staff the picket lines in 2022 and 2023, winning people to the union and promoting the strike on campus.
As a member of NTEU Fightback, I believe that our union must not trade away conditions. In the last EBA round, I fought to save 40:40:20, for existing casuals to have conversion rights and for a wage rise above inflation. The union needed to take more serious strike action to win these demands. Negotiations need to be transparent and we cannot concede to vague promises from management.
We need to escalate our disputes over workloads and wage theft. The prominent case of wage theft in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) is making little progress under current leadership.
I believe that unionists have a social responsibility and have been involved in anti-war and pro-Palestine activism.
Lawrence Farrar
Professional Staff
Physics
I am a professional staff member working in Physics. I have been an NTEU member since I started my postgraduate studies, and an avid unionist from a young age.
I don’t think it’s controversial to say that the interests of rank-and-file workers do not align with the interests of management. As such, I don’t think we should strive to meet management in the middle with our demands. Rather, we need to pull them as far as we possibly can to our side, because that is certainly their strategy. Each year that the university posts profits in the hundreds of millions while we get below inflation pay raises (pay cuts) is painful reminder of this fact.
During the recent bargaining round, I worked with NTEU Fightback to push for serious strike action to retain our pay and conditions. Our union leadership gave up too soon and we were left with a real wage cut, a massive expansion of “education focussed roles” and WFH clauses the management feels they can outright ignore.
I will relentlessly advocate for the rights of all our members, because that is what a union is for.
NTEU Fightback Sydney Uni 