How do you solve a problem like casual employment?

Sarah Roberts, Assistant Secretary, Victorian Division

Over the last 20 years, casual employment in Australian universities has grown dramatically. The problem is particularly acute in the casual academic area. Most recent research has a problem like casual employment? estimated casual academic employment as comprising around 50% of all teaching performed in Australian universities.

Recent statistics from Victorian university annual reports reinforce this, with up to 73% of all employees on a headcount basis insecurely employed, of which we know the majority are casual. In 1999, on a Full Time Equivalent (FTE) basis, there were 82,233 FTE in the sector, with 12,670 FTE or 15.4% casual. Fast forward to 2019 (last available data set from DESE), and we have 137,578 FTE in the sector with 24,873 FTE or 18% casual.

Added to this, we know that for each FTE we should count 4-5 employees on a headcount basis, given that each casual performs less than a full-time load.

Why is this a problem?

No pay over teaching breaks, no access to sick leave and no capacity to take out loans or own their own home, are only a few of the myriad disadvantages casuals experience.

Many casual academics are also stuck on a teaching treadmill with little or no access to an academic career, having completed their PhD but still unable to obtain a permanent teaching and research job. This is because while the sector has grown substantially over the last 20 years, almost two-thirds of that growth has been in insecure work.

There is dwindling access to permanent teaching and research roles, with only a quarter of doctoral graduates able to obtain employment in academic positions on completion of their PhD.

On the numbers, casual academic employment is no longer a realistic ‘apprenticeship’ with a clear pathway to an ongoing teaching and research role. That dream has died. Instead, more and more casual academics find themselves trapped in ‘permanent casual’ roles for years. Finally, casuals experience chronic underpayment of wages, which has been well documented both by our Union and in the media.

Casual employment is cheap & baked into the university funding model

Casual employment is significantly cheaper than fixed term or ongoing employment because there is no allowance for leave and the hourly rate of pay is effectively lower. Added to this, on-costs are comparatively low.

Also, over the last 20 years, there has been a real decline in the real rate of government funding for teaching and research, meaning increased reliance on casual employment as a cheap form of university labour. Accordingly, employers have strongly resisted our claims to securitise casual employment or to put an effective limit on its use.

"...employers have strongly resisted our claims to securitise casual employment or to put an effective limit on its use.

Casual employment is ‘flexible’

Because casual employment is technically by the hour, it does not carry with it any penalty to the employer for termination. There are no redundancy payouts or balance of contract payouts to worry about. At the same time, the casual academic workforce in particular has proven itself as a pool of highly skilled experts, many with PhDs and years of teaching experience.

Thus, there is little if any disadvantage to the employer in opting for casual employment over contract or permanent when engaging a new employee.

Further, once casual wage theft is taken into account, because of their precarious employment, casuals perform many hours of unpaid labour, casual employment is a very attractive option to an employer.

So what should the Union’s goal be in bargaining?

In considering how to address casual employment in Round 8 bargaining, clearly we should be aiming to improve the security of employment for existing casual staff who desire it, and to improve opportunities for secure employment for future staff.

An associated question is whether we could also be aiming to improve the potential career path for casual employees, especially casual academics. In considering this we must have regard to the nature of higher education funding and our relative power within the system.

At the end of 2020, NTEU’s National Council met to discuss these and other potential claims in bargaining. The Union agreed to pursue claims around ensuring casuals are paid for the work they perform, as well as increased superannuation and sick leave.

The National Tertiary Casuals Committee is also assessing the options for further claims to improve the job security of casuals in our sector in a meaningful and determinative way.