Editorial: Insecure work in Aust higher ed must end now

Alison Barnes

National President

This first appeared as an Opinion piece in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald on 27 July 2022.

Insecure work in Australian higher education must end now

Australian university researchers and staff are critically important. It’s time they are given job and income security.

THE ERA of exploitation of their vast knowledge and commitment must end now. The Age and the Herald’s excellent investigation has exposed the enormous brain drain our industry is experiencing with generations of researchers being forced to leave. But as it correctly outlined, the proliferation of insecure work in Australian higher education has created dire conditions for tens of thousands of university workers, not just researchers.

My union is taking a busload of casual staff to Canberra today to meet Education Minister Jason Clare, to demand action on insecure work and to speak of their experiences being precariously employed.

One casually employed academic has told me of the anguish they felt, having to leave their position with no carer’s leave to look after a terminally ill parent before they died. Only to return with a mountain of debt and no guarantee of a job.

Others have told me of the struggle to make ends meet, denied a full-time position despite working full-time hours for years. For those who haven’t experienced it, the ruthless nature of working in universities may come as a shock. I’ve seen sick Squid Game-style recruiting rounds where casual staff have to fight it out for a job. One member has spoken of being left in a room with another worker and told to toss a coin to see who wins the one job left.

These are not one-off extreme cases. It is the brutal truth of working in an industry that denies workers full-time jobs and conditions because it benefits their business model. There are a staggering 166,000 university

staff currently employed insecurely. That is in stark contrast to the vice-chancellors and executives often earning more than a million dollars a year in full-time positions.

I’ve been vocal on slashing their exorbitant salaries but what university staff need is for them to be forced into employing staff securely. So far my union, and its casual members, have had to fight tooth and nail to expose universities’ over-reliance on insecure work.

We have successfully embarrassed many over the theft of casual workers’ wages in the media, in parliament and through the courts. Most recently, one of the country’s most prestigious institutions in Melbourne University was left red-faced enough to commit to dramatically reducing its reliance on casual staff – hopefully they follow through. But this strategy takes a toll on casual workers, who already work incredibly hard and should not have to constantly struggle to be treated fairly and be paid what they’re owed. Vice-Chancellors need to be forced into action by this federal government.

The last attempt at casual conversion from the Commonwealth, under former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, was atrociously bad for higher education staff. When universities were offered a good-faith opportunity to convert casual staff to full-time jobs, only two per cent of workers made the cut.

Some had worked in the same pattern, teaching the same courses for decades, yet were denied a full-time job on a technicality. We tested this legislation in court and the court reluctantly agreed our test case couldn’t be granted a full-time job – after a decade of service – because it would’ve cost the university too much money.

The best case is this was an ill-thought through piece of law but the worst case was it was intentionally designed to let universities off the hook.

However, whether university staff precariously employed, repeatedly victims of wage theft and forced to reapply for their jobs semester after semester inspires sympathy in you is not actually my point. They may not fit the typical definition but university staff are essential workers.

Australia needs students to be able to study and get degrees. We need a future-proof economy with workers trained for the jobs of tomorrow. And if we want our researchers to continue making life-changing and lifesaving discoveries, like vaccines, something has got to give.

The Albanese government has a golden opportunity at the upcoming skills summit to bolster our institutions and the staff who are the backbone of them by introducing reforms that deliver secure jobs.

When universities were offered a good-faith opportunity to convert casual staff to fulltime jobs, only two per cent of workers made the cut.

New Education Minister Jason Clare has promised a reset in the relationship between federal government and universities. Now it’s time to deliver.