SYDNEY TEACHERS' PROPOSAL FOR TRADE UNION

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 March 1947, Page 7

SYDNEY TEACHERS' PROPOSAL FOR TRADE UNION

x SYDNEY, March 17. More than 200 members of the Teachers' Staff Association of the Sydney University plan to make their association into a trade union. The formation of a union will begin this week as a result of instructions issued at a recent meeting. All the university staff, from professors downward, belong to the association, the president of which is Professor Gibson. If the association registers with the Arbitration Court it is believed that it will become the first university trade union in the world. The move has come, about through the alleged insufficiency of the salaries. Last year the State Government withdrew a third of its grant of £150,000 yearly from the university. Since then salary claims have been presented to the Premier (Mr J. McGirr) by the University Senate, but the association believes that these claims are inadequate. The current minimum salaries at the university are: professors, £1250 yearly; readers, £1000; senior lecturers, £450 to £750; and lecturers, £350 to £6OO.