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NEWS & CAMPAIGNS
Campaigning for jobs & a better sector Throughout the pandemic, your union has been steadfast in our campaigns against the Morrison Government's heartless and destructive policies for our sector; from denying JobSeeker, raising fees and starting cultural wars to the ongoing issue of wage theft.
WAGE THEFT RAMPANT The Union continues to confront widespread wage theft in higher education, with at least 10 universities either repaying millions of dollars to staff who have had their wages stolen, or are under investigation for wage theft breaches.
NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes told Guardian Australia that students’ education would suffer as class sizes balloon and staff are either moved to insecure work or let go.
Michael Evans National Organiser (Media & Engagement)
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We have consistently said that the sector’s chronic reliance on casual and fixed-term employment creates the ideal environment for exploitation. The power imbalance in the relationship between employer and employee lends itself to casual and fixed-term staff being squeezed by management to reduce costs and maximise profits. The campaigning and organising by NTEU members against wage theft has involved pushing universities to undertake audits, lodging collective disputes, and included surveying our casual members in August. The survey demonstrates that exploitation remains rife amongst casual staff, and widespread across the sector. But wage theft is common not only in our universities. Our investigations into private higher education
Sentry
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SEPTEMBER 2020
providers, where almost every employee is employed insecurely, demonstrate that for many employers, wage theft is the business model of choice.
SECTOR IN CRISIS With the Government still refusing to recognise how serious the sector’s jobs crisis is, more job losses have been announced. La Trobe University has started a second round of voluntary redundancies following the 239 who left earlier, Victoria University has announced up to 190 jobs will be lost, while the University of Melbourne has signalled up to 450 jobs to go. At the University of Sydney staff were asked to prepare options for coping with up to 30% of staff. NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes told Guardian Australia that students’ education would suffer as class sizes balloon and staff are either moved to insecure work or let go. She said fewer permanent staff would have a negative effect on course quality, student support and course delivery.
