From 7am, about 500 people were stationed at picket lines at each of the inner Sydney campus\u2019s entrances, armed with flags, banners and megaphones.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n The University of Sydney advised students<\/a> \u201calmost all\u201d scheduled classes would move online as a result of the strike, while others were rescheduled or cancelled.<\/p>\n Peter Chen, the branch president of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of Sydney, said management had rebuffed the union \u201cat every opportunity\u201d to enforce appropriate protections around the use of AI.<\/p>\n \u201cHigher education is the canary in the coalmine,\u201d he said. \u201cWhere we go on AI \u2026 will travel through the rest of the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n The union says it is \u2018asking for best practice\u2019 on the use of AI at the university. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The New South Wales division secretary of the NTEU, Vince Caughley, said the University of Sydney\u2019s own green paper advised AI was the most \u201cfundamental transformation\u201d education had seen, pointing to AI chatbots that were already being used<\/a> to help teach online-only classes at other universities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are asking for best practice, we are asking for due diligence,\u201d he said. \u201cNot their own commercialisation aims and certainly not the interest of venture capital.\u201d<\/p>\n The union was confident it would reach an agreement with management within the year but had concerns over the lack of senior leadership at the table, including the provost, Prof Annamarie Jagose. The last bargaining process represented the longest running industrial action<\/a> at an Australian university, and the prospect of future strikes remained active.<\/p>\n The University of Sydney\u2019s NTEU branch is the largest in Australia and some of its concerns are widespread in the sector. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the University of Sydney said it was \u201ccontinuing to engage\u201d with the union and maintained industrial action was \u201cpremature\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe agree using AI ethically requires a human-centred approach, and our \u2026 principles and guardrails that govern use have been developed in consultation with our community,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe support many of the objectives of the unions\u2019 claims, but believe it\u2019s more appropriate to implement many of these through relevant policies, instead of in the Enterprise Agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n There are broader concerns, some interlinked and widespread in the sector. Growing class sizes and reduced student satisfaction. A new proposal for teaching-only roles with no research component or scope for future growth.<\/p>\n Prof Laura Shepherd in the school of social and political sciences is part of the bargaining team and said students often sacrificed a \u201chuge amount\u201d to come to the university, including spending $50,000 on degrees.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cThey come here \u2026 for quality and access to research leaders,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we should be very ashamed if we allow anything in the enterprise agreement that threatens that.\u201d<\/p>\n The University of Sydney\u2019s NTEU branch is the largest in Australia, and the university has long been a hotbed for activism. As management approaches its fifth month of bargaining, it is also grappling with continued opposition to its response to Gaza and restrictions on protest.<\/p>\n New restrictions<\/a> were brought in as a result of the university\u2019s pro-Palestine encampment in 2024, which received intense scrutiny<\/a> during this year\u2019s royal commission. On Wednesday, keffiyehs and pro-Palestine banners stood out among purple NTEU flags and signage.<\/p>\n The picket lines had a jovial atmosphere despite the presence of campus security and police. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The Student Representative Council was also striking in solidarity with staff and picketing online classes. Its education officer, Dana Kafina, said the university\u2019s \u201cdraconian\u201d protest restrictions were a motivation.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the wake of \u2026 suppressions of free speech and activism, and some of the lowest rates of student and graduate satisfaction in the country, we have had enough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Despite the presence of campus security and police, the picket lines had a jovial atmosphere. Some blasted music on speakers, others banged drums and chanted with abandon.<\/p>\n Staff want AI protections that ensure \u2018the tech is serving our purpose, rather than us serving the tech\u2019. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Kurt Iveson, a professor of geography, was among them, running a quiz on his megaphone as, behind him, students sold baked goods to raise funds for lost income of strikers.<\/p>\n Iveson has been with the university for 20 years, and wants \u201cmeaningful protections\u201d that do not outlaw AI but ensure \u201cthe tech is serving our purpose, rather than us serving the tech\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us on the picket line today are here because we care so much about the education and research we do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The same week union members at the University of Sydney agreed to a 24-hour strike, staff received the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,363,364,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-587907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788350175_344_2998.jpg\")
<\/p>\n