David Gonzalez

David Gonzalez is the current Branch President of the NTEU University of Melbourne and President of the NTEU Victorian Division Council. He has previously served on the NTEU National Executive and brings experience across branch, division and national leadership.

In his day-to-day work, David is a professional staff member in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne, working across the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. This gives him a grounded understanding of how university systems operate and where pressure points sit for staff.

David has led organising and bargaining efforts at one of the largest and most complex universities in the country. His focus has been on building member participation, strengthening workplace organising, and translating member priorities into clear industrial strategy.

Alongside his union work, David has a background in the arts and public-facing advocacy. He brings that experience to how he communicates with members and represents the union publicly, with a focus on clarity, credibility and connection.

He is standing for Division Secretary to strengthen coordination across branches, lift organising capacity, and ensure the Victorian Division is accountable to the members it represents.

Highlights

• Lifelong unionist

  • Raised in a union household. Father was one of the original 100 organisers of the New York State teachers’ union

  • Grounded in the belief that worker power is built from the workplace up

• Trained organiser in tough campaigns

  • Apprentice organiser with Hotel and Restaurant Employees in the US

  • Worked with low-paid migrant workers in campaigns against union-busting employers (read more here: Lafayette Park Hotel and here)

  • Managed picket lines during one of the longest strikes in US history (read more here: Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas)

• Proven campaign leadership across sectors

  • Led grassroots legislative campaigns for public education funding (read more here: New York Post)

  • Organised and managed major statewide campaigns, including youth violence prevention funding (California Wellness Foundation)

  • Helped elect a women’s civil rights pioneer to the California bench (Nancy L. Davis, California Superior Court)

  • Built coalitions across unions, community, civic and faith organisations

• Experienced in government, advocacy, and communications

  • Community engagement officer, City of Portland

  • Advocacy roles in the global HIV/AIDS movement

  • Communications director in the ACT HIV sector

  • Leadership roles in global communications, building campaigns that convert strategy into outcomes

• Committed to equity and access

  • Founder and director of a performing arts organisation for early career people of colour

  • Volunteer language tutor supporting migrant communities

• Union leadership across Australia

  • Coordinated the national executive of the Australian Education Union

  • Former member, NTEU National Executive

  • Strong working relationships across branches and divisions nationally

• NTEU University of Melbourne branch leadership and wins

  • Leader in campaign that forced management to abandon pandemic pay cuts

  • Bargaining team member delivering:

    • Major gains on job security

    • Unprecedented ongoing jobs for casual academics

    • Strong pay outcomes and sector standing

    • New equity provisions including menopause, perimenopause and gender affirming leave

• Trusted advocate for members

  • Work directly with members to defend their rights and navigate complex workplace issues

  • Extensive experience in discipline matters, bullying, performance processes and organisational restructures

• Branch leadership that delivers

  • President, NTEU UniMelb Branch

  • Drove significant membership growth during bargaining

  • Maintained branch strength despite loss of two-thirds of organising resources

  • Built strong solidarity with students during major campaigns and protests

• Strategic leadership at state level

  • Chair, NTEU Victorian Division Council

  • Led development of a renewed, organising-focused strategy for the division

• Leading the next phase of bargaining

  • Chair of current NTEU University of Melbourne bargaining team

  • Advancing nationally leading claims, including:

    • A four-day working week for professional staff

    • Real control over academic workload by academic staff

Selected Media Clips

2026 UniMelb Bargaining in The Age

2025 Racism at UniMelb The Age

2024 Workloads at UniMelb The Age

2024 Standing Up Against Sexism for Maths Tutors ABC News 

2024 Standing Up for Students Over Surveillance The Age and The Guardian  

2024 Standing Up for Students at Palestine Encampment The Age

2023 UniMelb Bargaining Campaign The Age

2023 UniMelb Bargaining Campaign The Age

2023 UniMelb Bargaining Industrial Action The Age

2022 Casual Wage Theft The Age

2022 Standing Up for Vet School Workers The Age and Wyndham TV