The job loss iceberg in the higher education sector is beginning to appear as a result of the federal government’s industrial law changes and other proposals.
The Executive Director of the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association (AHEIA), Craig Laughton, said restrictions on universities ability to use fixed-term contracts and the unions’ drive to eliminate casual jobs, already is changing university employment practices and jobs planning.
Mr Laughton said it is estimated by AHEIA that 7,000 jobs will be lost in the research/casual space.
“Casuals have been and should continue to be a critical cohort of the higher education workforce,” Mr Laughton said.
“Under new federal legislation, universities cannot commit to a regular pattern of work or any guaranteed work – they can no longer, for example, have a casual present an agreed number of lectures in a semester. These severe restrictions on casual employment will have a fundamental, adverse impact on the way the higher education sector operates. Courses and jobs will go.
“Universities now have significantly changed their casual employment contracts to make sure, amongst other things, that there is no commitment to actual work or a pattern of work. These changes have resulted in the sector’s casuals no longer having any certainty as to when and how much they will work – previous certainties now have evaporated.
“The perverse outcome is that if a university were to offer any ongoing certainty to its highly valued casual cohort, the financial sustainability of universities would come under threat due to significantly increased costs of converting casual roles to other forms of employment.
“The problem is exacerbated by the higher education sector’s wall-to-wall coverage by Enterprise Agreements (EAs). The vast majority of these EA’s will contain specific provisions requiring the university to give reasonable notice to its casual employees about their upcoming work. So, if the university follows its EA, it will potentially breach the Fair Work Act; if it does not follow its EA, it can be taken to the Fair Work Commission for breaching the terms of its EA.
“Universities really value the casual cohort – they perform an incredibly important role in our higher education system. The problem is the government believes the union rhetoric that all casuals want permanent roles – our survey of 11,000 casuals shows that this is simply not the case – with as few as five per cent to seven per cent wanting permanent roles. Typically, these are academics who have been unable to secure a fixed-term or permanent role – the system is not broken.
“So, rather than having more jobs that are more secure, we have a situation of fewer jobs, with less certainty for a long-standing and respected cohort of workers in the higher education sector.”
Mr Laughton said the situation is being exacerbated by the proposed cap on full fee paying international students, impacting the sector’s ability to generate revenue to offset the significant cost increases associated with the new employment framework, thereby saving jobs.
