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By Stuart Martin CANBERRA — Since mid-September, Australian National University members of the National Tertiary Education Industry Union (NTEU) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU), have been conducting industrial action to win a pay rise. Despite their common goal, the unions have so far failed to coordinate their campaigns. AMWU pickets at the entrances to the university have blocked deliveries of non-essential goods and the union has successfully halted renovation work on the Chancellery building. The AMWU's industrial sanctions have brought the university mail system to a stand-still with pickets being staffed by workers using their flexitime, rather than going on strike. The NTEU campaign has involved refusing to inform the university administration of students' results and holding regular stop work meetings during paid time. An earlier NTEU decision to close libraries during lunch time was overturned at a meeting on October 9 to minimise disruption to students. The lack of solidarity between the two unions has been expressed by some academic staff who resent their research being interfered with by AMWU pickets. A recent NTEU meeting decide to reject a motion for a letter of support to the AMWU picketers. Similarly, some AMWU members have said that having academics and general administrative staff in the same union undermines their struggle. Distrust between the two unions is heightened by differences in their pay claims. The AMWU is demanding an 8% increase on the basis that its members' wages have increased by only 8.9% over the past eight years, while senior administrative salaries have increased by 30%. The NTEU is demanding an increase of 2% from university funds, plus an extra 1.3% on the federal government's wage rise of 5.6%. This potentially gives NTEU members a total wage rise of 8.9%. The difference in pay claims comes down to the tactics of each union. The NTEU is gambling that the federal government will allow the 1.3% claim as a supplement to the 5.6%. The AMWU is gambling that the federal government will increase university funding to allow a single pay claim against the university, rather than splitting the negotiations between the university and government.