Michael Beggs for National Council

I have been active in the union for quite a few years now, as case handler, branch committee member, enterprise bargaining representative and delegate. I’ve been especially involved in organising around academic workloads, both in our FASS campaign and as an NTEU rep on the university’s academic workloads committee.

I’m running for National Council to help our union make progress at a sectoral level on three priorities:

1. realistic workloads;

2. fair, effective and democratic university governance; and

3. academic freedom and freedom of expression on campus more broadly.

It is also vitally important to defend and expand secure, balanced teaching/research careers.  These jobs are being rapidly eroded, leaving a generation of academics in insecure work with burnout-inducing teaching loads, or as assistants in research programs driven by others.

I am a member of RAFA and an academic in Political Economy. My research and teaching focuses on the history of macroeconomic policy and the labour movement, and on egalitarian economic democracy.