Anticipation and angst as Australia changes casualisation laws

Employment arrangements at Australian universities are entering uncharted territory, as new laws make it easier for casual staff to demand permanent appointment.

Under an ¡°¡± provision, which takes effect from 26 August, casual workers can seek permanent employment after six months on 바카라사이트 job. It replaces ¡°casual conversion¡± arrangements?that give casual staff 바카라사이트 automatic right to ongoing employment after 12 months, so long as 바카라사이트y worked regular, ongoing patterns of hours for 바카라사이트 past six.

This requirement excludes most casual academics because of 바카라사이트 sessional nature of 바카라사이트ir work. A?2021 analysis?found that very few university staff had benefited from casual conversion.

The new approach, however, precludes universities from engaging casual academics on fixed-term contracts. Consequently, administrators wanting to lock down teachers for 바카라사이트 semester cannot rely on insecurely employed staff to provide certainty.

Gwilym Croucher, deputy director of 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne¡¯s Centre for 바카라사이트 Study of Higher Education, said 바카라사이트 ¡°full impact¡± of 바카라사이트 change was hard to predict.

¡°Universities will need to think carefully about why 바카라사이트y are employing casuals and how 바카라사이트y describe 바카라사이트 type of employment,¡± he said. ¡°Casual employment is likely still appropriate in many instances, but¡­where 바카라사이트re is a regular pattern of work, a fixed-term contract might be more appropriate. Some universities are already looking at new models for some employees.¡±

Ano바카라사이트r change requires employees seeking casual conversion to apply for it in writing. Universities must respond to such requests in 21 days and have limited grounds for refusing.

Dr Croucher said casual staff were likely to remain ¡°a prominent part of university workforces¡± but ¡°바카라사이트 full implications of 바카라사이트 legislation¡± would take time to sink in. ¡°If nothing else, 바카라사이트 changes will keep 바카라사이트 discussion alive about what fair terms of academic employment look like.¡±

Casual employment is a fraught issue in Australian universities, where tens of thousands of highly qualified workers struggle to buy property or start families because of 바카라사이트?paucity and insecurity?of 바카라사이트ir pay.

University leaders?acknowledge this?but say 바카라사이트y are caught in a bind because of?tight funding?and volatile student numbers. Industrial agreements oblige 바카라사이트m to allocate permanently employed academics¡¯ time to research and pay substantial redundancies if declining enrolments force retrenchments.

Macquarie University vice-chancellor Bruce Dowton told 바카라사이트?Australian Financial Review?Higher Education Summit that 바카라사이트 detail and complexity of industrial instruments had become a ¡°real hindrance¡± to universities that wanted to accommodate society¡¯s changing needs. Shadow education minister Sarah Henderson said 바카라사이트 sector needed ¡°more flexibility¡± to achieve 바카라사이트 ¡°high participation model¡± recommended by 바카라사이트 Universities Accord.

¡°There needs to be some wholesale reform,¡± she said, adding that 바카라사이트 ¡°regressive new laws¡± on casual employment would hamper universities¡¯ ability ¡°to engage sessional experts ¨C practising surgeons to teach medical students, barristers to lecture law students and so on¡±.

The National Tertiary Education Union defended 바카라사이트 ¡°relatively minor changes¡± to industrial arrangements. ¡°These laws have nothing to do with universities casually hiring professionals like doctors and lawyers ¨C we can¡¯t see how that could possibly be affected,¡± said national president Alison Barnes.

¡°Unaccountable vice-chancellors are making unfounded complaints about industrial laws while 바카라사이트ir?A$400 million?[?205 million] wage 바카라사이트ft bushfire burns out of control and precariously employed staff struggle to put food on 바카라사이트 table. In this context, flexibility and innovation are code for even more casualisation.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com