Higher Education

Union wins casual wage increase

The Community Public Sector Union (CPSU) has won a 23 per cent increase in the award safety net for general staff casuals in universities and a mechanism for conversion to permanent or fixed-term status for long-term casuals.

The use of casuals by universities in Australia has more than doubled since 1990 as a percentage of all staff, said CPSU Joint Federal Secretary David Carey.

"While many casuals are students earning some much-needed extra income to supplement the pittance they get from the Government, there is also evidence that casuals are used to fill ongoing jobs or jobs that should be offered on fixed-term contracts," said Mr Carey.

After more than three months of intensive negotiation between the unions and the university employers, a settlement was reached for awards to include the following:

· increase the casual loading to 23 per cent for both general and academic staff; and
· provide that general staff will be eligible to apply to convert permanent or fixed-term employment after working 50 per cent or more of the full-time hours for their classification over the previous 12 months or working less than those hours but on a regular and systematic basis over the previous two years.

The university would be able to refuse conversion on "reasonable grounds", such as that the employee is a student doing work that is customarily offered to students, or the employee is a retiree coming back to fill in, or the employee already has a full-time job or primary occupation elsewhere.

However, in every other case the university would have to offer them permanent or, if the work fitted into the allowed categories, fixed-term employment, said Mr Carey.

The union will use the award safety net increase to pursue wage increases in the current round of enterprise bargaining negotiations.

© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office

http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/latest_news/higher_ed/20030613_university.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005