Job security is key to working together to build a fair and productive workplace. A university that values its staff does not subject them to the stress and uncertainty of permanent insecurity.
Only 1 in 3 university employees have secure work.
Casual and contract staff have become critical to the functioning of our universities. We are passionate and dedicated teachers, researchers and professionals — we deserve secure jobs. Where secure jobs are not possible, there needs to fairer pay and conditions for casual staff.
This round we are seeking paid sick leave for casual staff. In the past it has been assumed that casual loadings compensate for sick leave. But for casual staff, if all our work falls on one or two days, getting sick can cost us our weeks wages. This puts pressure on us to work while sick, which is unfair on us and unsafe for our campuses.
Use of rolling fixed-term contracts for ongoing work forces the best staff to look elsewhere for job security and places enormous stress on those individuals.
Sadly, these days even a permanent job does not guarantee job security. Constant excessive and unnecessary restructuring and redundancies are exposing more staff to stress and uncertainty and causing chaos and disorganisation.