Union lodges $2 million wage theft claim at Sydney University

National Tertiary Education Union

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has today made a wage theft claim of $2 million on behalf of 80 casual NTEU members employed in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at the University of Sydney.

The NTEU believes the University of Sydney has breached the terms of its enterprise agreement by not paying casuals for all necessary work performed, including: the payment of piece rates for marking rather than payment by the hour; underpayment for teaching preparation, lecture attendance, student consultation and associated teaching duties; and systematically misclassifying marking work at a level that attracts a lower rate of pay.

Dr Damien Cahill, NTEU NSW Secretary said, ‘This casual wage theft claim gets to the heart of the pattern of underpayment that is rampant within higher education. Casual staff are regularly not paid for all of the work they do, yet this work is essential for the functioning of universities.’

‘Both the Fair Work Ombudsman and the university regulator, TEQSA, have begun to take notice of wage theft in universities. It is now time that university management owned up to the problem of wage theft’, said Dr Cahill

‘The management attitude of “there’s nothing to look at here” is totally inadequate and insulting to casual staff. University management need to own up to the problem of wage theft, pay casual staff their historic backdues, and take meaningful steps to substantially increase secure jobs within the sector’, Dr Cahill continued.

Dani Cotton, NTEU Casual Representative at the University of Sydney said, ‘The “Uberfication” of the university sector has to stop. With so much casual work going unpaid, this impacts not only our ability to pay our bills during this pandemic, but the quality of the education we are able to deliver’.

/Public Release.