Left-wing activists have achieved a big victory in the recent Student Representative Council elections at the University of New South Wales. Activists from the Socialist Alternative and Students for Palestine clubs contested the election together as Left Action—Free Palestine, competing against a crowded field of Labor, Liberal and moderate independent students. Left Action candidates won seven of the twelve undergraduate representative positions, as well as receiving more than 60 percent of the vote for every office bearer position they contested, including the Education, Environment and Welfare offices, who each received more than 3,000 votes. 
The Liberal Party-backed ticket failed to secure a single position, and the Labor affiliated groups who held a majority of the council in 2024 were reduced to just four of twelve voting positions and a single office bearer. 
This victory comes off the back of the student general meeting for Palestine held in September, in which more than 600 students voted for UNSW to divest from weapons companies and to support a free Palestine. Members of the Palestine solidarity campaign are a minority of the student body, but after a year of activism, this group has grown into an active, confident and driven force on the campus. 
Palestine was not the only issue that drove students to vote for Left Action. Arguments for a free and fully funded higher education sector, and university subsidisation of food and student accommodation struck a chord with many students who have been affected by Sydney’s skyrocketing rents and cost-of-living crisis. 
One factor that likely impacted the outcome was that the Labor campaign split prior to the election. This was, at least in part, because the majority faction was trying to drive the socialist left out of the SRC, according to individuals involved in the split. Their plan was to work alongside the Liberals to mobilise a right-wing college vote. In the end, the right-wing vote failed to substantially grow, while the left’s vote doubled. 
This victory for the left comes at an important time for student unionism. Like many universities around the country, UNSW has begun cracking down on Palestine activism, threatening to discipline students and <a href="https://redflag.org.au/article/palestine-solidarity-club-suspended-at-unsw">suspending the Students for Palestine club</a>. Also, vice-chancellors are gearing up for cutbacks to staff and courses in the coming months. Using the student council’s resources to challenge these attacks and continue to fight for Palestine will be essential in the year ahead.

Jamie Tyers

UNSW student elections: left wins big

Workers at independent Sydney bookshop Better Read Than Dead have been fighting all year to improve their pay and conditions. They were joined by more than 150 activists and unionists at a community rally last Friday in support of their ongoing industrial action.
This isn’t the first time that these workers have confronted management. Last July, during the state lockdown, the bookshop workers and the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union fought for an employment agreement that would provide a safe workplace, job security and a liveable wage. The store ground to a halt as workers refused to process web orders, complete returns or work overtime. The store’s front window display remained unchanged for months. 
Management was forced to concede to the workers’ demands, at least in principle. Now it has reneged on its promises and refused to sign the agreement, sparking another round of outrage and industrial action. 
Better Read Than Dead markets itself as trendy and progressive (its name is a play on a 1950s peace movement slogan opposing the anti-communist drive towards war), which is common among the small businesses of Sydney’s inner west. Despite the image, it’s an exploitative workplace like any other. The lefty gloss did not stop the bookshop from scrapping Sunday penalty rates, something that the workers are fighting to restore. 
Nor did it prevent management from squeezing as much profit as possible out of the largely casual workforce. “Most of our staff are casual”, said Maddy, who works at the store. “That means they can be fired at any moment on the whim of Better Read Than Dead management, and that has happened a lot. We have a huge staff turnover.”
Maddy and her co-workers are demanding the abolition of junior rates, which she says have been used to underpay younger workers. “A lot of people who work in the store are under 21, and there’s a loophole in the award which means they can be paid a fucking pittance of a wage, and they’re doing the work that we’re all doing!”
Workers are demanding improvements to their conditions that extend beyond immediate concerns, including paid parental leave provisions. “A phrase that we use a lot is ‘everyone is doing this for everyone else’, so a lot of the rights that we’re fighting for don’t necessarily affect individuals at the moment”, one worker said after the rally. “None of us are pregnant at the moment or really want children right now. But it’s the principle of the thing.” 
Even these seemingly basic rights are hard won in the industry. Only 9.6 percent of retail workers are unionised, and many workplaces do not have agreements, meaning that bosses can get away with supplying only the most basic conditions and some of the lowest pay grades. 
But it doesn’t have to be this way. This campaign challenges the ubiquitous argument that casual workers cannot be organised because they’re too precarious and are unlikely ever to join a union or find the confidence to fight. “I think if this campaign demonstrates anything, it’s that casual workers are immensely invested in their rights at work”, says union organiser Loukas Kakogiannis. “If unions are willing to bargain, as we have at Better Read Than Dead, for all of their casual employees to be converted to part time, to have secure jobs, then casual workers are going to be invested in fighting.” 
Despite management backtracking on the previous agreement, the overwhelming feeling among workers and supporters at the rally was a determination to continue fighting. “It’s really inspiring”, Zachary, an ex-worker at Better Read Than Dead, said as the rally marched past the shopfront. “It’s wonderful to see many former colleagues standing up, fighting back. I think the fighting is inspiring for workers in other industries, not just retail.”

UNSW student elections: left wins big

Bookshop workers fight to improve conditions

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