10 January2025

The National Tertiary Education Union has demanded an urgent federal parliamentary inquiry into university governance after Monash University admitted underpaying staff $7.6 million.

The new wage theft revelations at Monash are additional to $10 million in previous underpayments at Monash, and millions more in alleged underpayments NTEU is pursuing in the Federal Court for unpaid consultation hours.

The NTEU is calling for an independent investigation of governance at Monash, alongside a federal parliamentary inquiry into the governance crisis at universities across Australia.

The national university wage theft tally is now a confirmed $265 million, with a further $159 million set aside by universities to repay workers for suspected wage theft incidents.

More than 140,000 university staff have had wages stolen from them in recent years.

NTEU Monash Branch President Dr Ben Eltham said:
"This admission brings Monash Uni's total wage theft bill to $17.6m since 2016. These are wages and superannuation unlawfully withheld from hard-working teachers. Monash's executive and governing board have broken the law and stolen from their own staff."

"Union action directly led to this admission. It's no coincidence that this announcement has dropped while Justice Snaden considers his decision in a separate multi-million dollar wage theft case in the Federal Court of Australia."

"We wrote to Monash's governing Council in November about the crisis of wage theft at our institution. They haven't bothered to get back to us.

"Monash University's Chancellor Dr Megan Clark has been on the board for the entire time these underpayments took place. She has failed in her governance responsibilities." 

"We urgently need a thorough and independent investigation into governance at Monash Uni."

NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes said:
“It’s disgusting that staff are continually being ripped off by their employers with no consequences for the wage thieves who are running rampant in public universities.

“There’s no greater proof that the university governance system in Australia is broken beyond repair than the $400 million wage theft shame in our sector.

“Vice-chancellors earning more than $1 million a year are never underpaid yet more than 140,000 staff who are mostly insecurely employed have been.

“We need an urgent federal parliamentary inquiry into the rotten governance in universities that has fuelled a wage theft epidemic, rampant casualisation and obscene executive pay.”

NTEU Monash branch representative Tony Williams said:
"Wage theft is endemic at Monash University. This newest disclosure of underpayments stands in stark contrast to the recent reporting of exorbitant executive salaries of university management. 

“When viewed together, it paints a clear picture of who is and is not valued within the institution."

Contact:
Ben Eltham 0422 987 538 / Matt Coughlan 0400 561 480