National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members at Sydney University have taken an important step towards reclaiming some of our wages lost to the inflation crisis of the last few years. At a meeting to launch the next enterprise bargaining campaign on Thursday, 5 March, 61 percent of the 300 union members voted to increase our pay claim to 25 percent over the life of the next agreement—10 percent in the first year, 10 percent in the second year, and 5 percent or the inflation rate (whichever is higher) in year three.
The resounding vote was a rejection of the NTEU national council’s controversial wage claim cap of 20 percent over the life of the next agreement. It is an important step towards reclaiming the tens of thousands of dollars workers at Sydney University have lost to inflation since the previous enterprise agreement expired.
A higher education officer 6.4 (a classification and salary grade for non-academic staff) is down $31,241 since 1 July 2021. A HEO 4.3 is down $24,219, and an associate lecturer on the highest pay grade (level 8) is down $34,175. While we have received wage increases thanks to industrial action in 2022 and 2023, they have been nowhere near enough to keep pace with the rising cost of living. On average, our wages have lagged inflation by nearly 7 percent in each year of our current enterprise agreement.
Rents have increased by 44 percent in five years, the cost of groceries and other consumer items continue to rise, and bills keep getting more expensive. In this context, asking for 25 percent over the life of the agreement is a very modest claim. Even if won in full, it would not make up for the lost wages of the last five years.
Other unions, such as the Australian Education Union in Victoria, have pushed for wage increases of 35 percent. In 2024, the nurses’ union in Victoria won an increase of 28.4 percent over four years after members rejected a 12 percent pay offer from the government.
University workers losing hundreds of dollars from their weekly pay packets ought to be a major concern for our union. So why has this situation been allowed to happen?
For too many years, our union leaders have been passive at best and obstructionist at worst when it comes to fighting for wage rises. In the NTEU, we have fought the union leaders, both locally and nationally, since 2020, when they voted to endorse the controversial Jobs Protection Framework. The scheme, which ultimately failed as a national strategy, would have effectively cut our pay by up to 15 percent in exchange for empty promises of job security.
This latest cap on wage claims was imposed by a meeting of the NTEU national council in October 2025, the same body that voted in favour of potential wage cuts back in 2020. A sizable minority of 39 percent voted against the cap. Since then, an open letter calling for the removal of the wage-claim cap has garnered more than 200 signatures.
The vote at Sydney University is an important message to a union leadership that is selling its members short. We showed that when a group of activists gives a lead, there are plenty of union members prepared to fight for a substantial pay rise to claw back some of our recent losses.
Sydney University is a rich institution, registering a $1.04 billion surplus in 2021, $298.5 million in 2022, $351.8 million in 2023 and $550 million in 2024. While the vice chancellor, senior executives and private consultants rake in huge salaries and bonuses, workers are left with increasing workloads and declining real wages.
Workers everywhere need a pay rise. If we can launch a serious industrial campaign at one of the wealthiest institutions in the country, we will set a good example for others to follow.
Alma Torlakovic is an NTEU branch committee member at Sydney University, an NTEU national councillor and a founding member of the rank-and-file group NTEU Fightback.
