Despite management's stated commitment to reducing casualisation, casuals now make up an unprecedented 52% of the workforce at the University of Sydney. These jobs are “casual” in name alone, with the work performed by casuals essential and ongoing in nature. Every year casualised staff teach tens of thousands of classes, mark tens of thousands of assignments, undertake tens of thousands of hours of administrative work, and perform thousands of hours of unpaid essential work for the benefit of the institution. Instead of being recognised and rewarded for their vital contribution, however, casuals are continually targeted for job cuts, denied a path to permanency through conversion, and subjected to systemic wage theft. We the undersigned support the campaign against wage theft, and for conversion rights for all casuals at the University of Sydney.

We demand:

1. That casuals be paid for every hour of work at the correct hourly rate of pay, including student consultation, lecture attendance, marking, meeting attendance, communication (including email and monitoring eLearning sites). The piece-rates for these tasks must be immediately abolished. Additionally, management must cease the practice of misclassifying tutorials as demonstrations, and of misclassifying marking that requires significant academic judgement as “simple” or “routine” marking.

2. That casuals be paid back in full for all stolen wages. We support the FASS underpayment claim and demand that the $2m of stolen wages are immediately repaid to the 80 claimants. In addition, we demand that Management return stolen wages to every casualised worker across the University in consultation with the Casuals Network and the NTEU.

3. That the right to conversion be extended to all academic and professional casuals who have worked any two out of the previous three semesters, following the minimum 40:40:20 requirements where required. Management must accept the NTEU’s proposal for serious conversion rights for casuals.

 4. A week of action in week 12 on casualisation

For many casualised staff at the University of Sydney, there is no light at the end of the tunnel of precarity. Many casual academics are kept on casual contracts for years on end, forced to re-apply for their jobs every 6 months with no certainty that their contracts will be renewed. There is a continual risk that even this precarious work will disappear in future semesters, with job cuts continually on the agenda. In September, the final hope of permanency was extinguished for 4,103 such casuals, with their right to conversion to an ongoing job rejected through an identical form letter. Each individual’s contribution was reduced to the same generic reason for rejection: “your pattern of work does not meet the eligibility criteria for conversion to continuing employment”. With one mass email, management consigned thousands of its casual employees to ongoing precarity, violating its commitment to reduce casualisation.

This crisis of casualisation has created an environment in which wage theft thrives. In the past year, the University of Sydney Casuals Network and NTEU have released two reports into wage theft in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, based on a detailed audit into casual academics in Semester 2 2020. The final report on this wage theft audit, The Tip of the Iceberg, revealed that 90% of participants completed unpaid work, with on average 28 minutes of unpaid work for every hour of paid work. These results were in line with a survey conducted by the Casuals Network in Semester 1 2020, in which 82% of 159 respondents—all casuals in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences—reported completing unpaid work that semester. The current round of the underpayment claim being undertaken by the Casuals Network and NTEU on behalf of 80 casual academics in FASS collectively totalled over $2 million of stolen wages for the 6 years covered by the claim. If these staff are representative of the 2455 casuals currently on payroll in FASS, this would add up to $64 million in wage theft.

Management claimed in an email to FASS casuals on October 7th that these allegations of wage theft were based on a “mistaken belief” that casual staff were “entitled to be paid for any time spent at their discretion and choice, rather than as required by the University”. The cold, impersonal and contemptuous tone of this remark is indicative of the systemic disrespect shown to casualised staff at the University of Sydney. It is outrageous to suggest that lecture attendance, marking, student consultation, communication and meeting attendance is discretionary time volunteered by casual staff. This is essential work to ensure students receive the education they demand and deserve. Students reasonably expect their tutors to understand and be able to answer questions about the lectures, to give constructive feedback on assignments (impossible in the current 4,500 word/hour quota imposed on many casuals), to be responsive to emails and available for consultation outside the tutorial hour.

Management frequently condones these expectations, asking students to rate the quality of assignment feedback and the connection between lectures and tutorials in official Feedback for Teachers surveys each semester, and encouraging students to stay in regular communication with their casual tutors to support their learning. This need for additional support has only increased during the pandemic and with the transition to online learning. With ever-increasing academic workloads, unit coordinators have less time to assist students, all too often leaving casuals to take up the burden.

Casualisation at the University of Sydney has reached a crisis, with the pandemic pushing it to a tipping point. This crisis of casualisation is detrimental to casual and permanent staff, detrimental to students, and detrimental to the University’s teaching and research reputation. While management has repeatedly dismissed the concerns of staff and students about the ongoing impacts of casualisation, we—as University of Sydney staff, students and supporters—demand that the crisis of exploitative casualisation end.


SIGNATURES

University of Sydney Staff:
Christian Alafaci
David Allen
Tim Allender
Fiona Allon
Sam Altman
Joe Alvaro
Lilia Anderson
Luis Angosto-Ferrández
Anonymous
Emeritus Professor Derrick Armstrong
Meera Atkinson
Nicholas Avery
Bunty Avieson
Lionel Babicz
Lucy Baird
Henry Barlow
Monika Bednarek
Michael Beggs
Cheryl Bell
Vanessa Berry
Yu Sun Bin
Elizabeth Black
Anja Bless
Carl Bodnaruk
Robert Boncardo
Louise Boon-Kuo
Gabriela Bourke
Justin Brickle
David Brophy
Dr Carl Brusse
Cathie Burgess
Dr Ursula Caporali
Belinda Castles
Alex Chilvers
Natalie Maystorovich Chulio
Alexander Cigana
Julia Cooper Clark
Frances Clarke
Annie Clarke
Ella Collins-White
Fran Collyer
Linda Connor
Hal Conyngham
Sam Cooney
Dani Cotton
Mitchel Cumming
Carole Cusack
Hilary Davidson
Patrick Dawson
Lauren Dickson
Dan Dixon
Dr Kirk Dodd
Yaegan Doran
Jennifer Dowling
Dr Blaise Dufal
James Dunk
Marco Duranti
Niall Edwards-FitzSimons
Ben Eldridge
Eleni Elefterias-Kostakidis
Natalie Femia
Marianne Fenech
Louisa Field
James Findlay
Toby Fitch
Julie Fitzhardinge
Harriet Flitcroft
Meraiah Foley
Dr Ken Fraser
Beatriz Carrillo Garcia
Dr Bruce Gardiner
Alex Gawronski
Steve Georgakis
Yona Gilead
Amy Gill
Sophia Davidson Gluyas
Josephine Goldman
Joel Griggs
Djuna Hallsworth
Nicky Hannan
Dominic Hearne
Ekaterina Heath
Jeremy Heathcote
Margaret Van Heekeren
Natasha Heenan
Geoff Hegarty
Jennifer Huch-Hoogvliet
James Humberstone
Maryam Alavi Ia
Siobhan Irving
Sacha Jamieson
Sebastian Job
Yasmine Johnson
Thomas Jurkiewicz
Amelia Kelly
Imogen King
Coel Kirkby
Olivier Krischer
Wendy Lambourne
Pia Larsen
Cameron Lawrence
Fiona Lee
Caroline Lipovsky
Dr Lu Liu
Remy Low
Natalie Lowden
Leah Lui-Chivizhe
Jake Lynch
Pamela Maddock
Anna Maguire
Ahmar Mahboob
James Maher
Kristen Mann
Demelza Marlin
James Martin
Megan Le Masurier
Karl Maton
eyal mayroz
Michael McDonnell
Celina McEwen
Sally McLaren
Jordan McSwiney
Thomas Melick
Simon Messner
Marcus Miller
Benjamin Miller
Hatta Misra
Kelton Muir de Moore
Meaghan Morris
Liam Mulligan
Izabella Nantsou
Briony Neilson
Chris Newton
Markela Panegyres
Vicki Papaefstathiou
Susan Park
Benedetto Passaretti
Estrella Pearce
Victoria Phillips
Susan Poetsch
Samantha Poulos
Phillip Poulton
Nathanael Pree
Isabel Prone
Louise Pryke
Matthew Pye
Philip Andrew Quadrio
Max Rabie
Tim Rafferty
Alison Ray
Lea Redfern
Michelle Richards
Nick Riemer
Lynette Riley
Rebecca Rinaldo
Lila San Roque
Rory
Stuart Rosewarne
Oscar Sannen
Susan Schroeder
Tatjana Seizova-Cajic
Shima Shahbazi
Diana Shahinyan
Andrew Shields
Matt Shores
Lucinda Nicolls Small
Gemma Lucy Smart
Daniel Smith
Matthew Smith
Eleni Smyrnis
Thomas Soo
Victoria Souliman
Ilektra Spandagou
Caitlin Still
Louise Sutherland
Catherine Sutton-Brady
Kai Tanter
Charlie Tapper
Alix Thoeming
Associate Professor Susan Thomas
Matthew Thomas
Murray Thomson
Jon Tjhia
Jason Todd
Kristina Ulm
Leah Williams Veazey
Penny Robin Vlies
Dinesh Wadiwel
Michael Ward
Jordan Watkins
Helen Watt
Amy Way
Nikki Wedgwood
Greta Werner
Catherine Wesselinoff
Marcus Whale
Marama Whyte
Karen-Anne Wong
Julian Wood
Tama Woodbury
Remy Woods
Beth Yahp
Eugenia Zoubtchenko


University of Sydney Students
Brad Arsenault
Margot Beavon-Collin
Sanjana Bhardwaj
Jazzlyn Breen
Harrison Brennan
Felicity Brooks
Anja Burrill
Katarina Butler
Alexandra Butt
Bipasha C
Luke Cass
Jocelin Chan
Gwen Chan
Amanda Chen
Zoe Coles
Gabby Couter
David Cunningham
Theo Delaney
Isabella Drake
Dr Jonathan Dunk
Mhairi Dunsmore
Robin Eames
Sophie England
Nathan Etherington
Paris Fleury
Hannah Gillard
Zac Gillies-Palmer
Deaglan Godwin
Emily Graetz
Zachary Grenfell
Lisa Gronich
Vivienne Guo
Ella Haber
Altay Hagrebet
Ban Hasanin
Kathryn Hempstead
Bonnie Huang
Zhuoyu Huang
Ishbel
Sandra Kallarakkal
Lauren Lancaster
Lara
Rory Larkins
Finola Laughren
Jayfel Tulabing Lee
Darcy McCarthy
Alex Mcleay
Darcy Morgan
Leigh Morgan
Cecily Niumeitolu
Manon O'Neill
Claire Ollivain
Fenella Palanca
Lily Patchett
Lia Perkins
Belle Powell
Seamas Pragnell
Kowther Qashou
Stuart Rich
Sasha Rose
Swapnik Sanagavarapu
Thomas Sargeant
Max Shanahan
James Sherriff
Elizabeth Smith
Samantha Soon
Alice Stafford
Ellie Stephenson
Sam Stove
Arnica Tomasovich Sturgeon
Ethan Surya
Kate Swan
Jessica Syed
Julian Thomas
Joshua Tralau-Stewart
Thu Tran
Talia Walker
Emily Wand
Harry Whitehead
Donnalyn Xu
Holly Zhang


Supporters:
Christopher Alderton
Eran Asoulin
Eleanor Barz
Peter Blamey
Sean Bowes
Georgina Brady
Melinda Cooper (USyd Alumni)
Ewan Coopey
Marcus Croese
Helen Drury
Paul Esber
Sophia Falcatan
Giles Fielke
Raahim Gill
Tamika Glouftsis
James Godfrey
Elias Greig
Meegan Hasted
Anna Ho
Clare Hollins
Madolyn Hollins
Ryleigh Kjorsvik
Lina Koleilat
Pablo Leighton
Cass Li
Gaynor Macdonald
Seamus May
Jadran Mimica
Dr Luke Mondy
Lachlan Monsted
Meloni Muir
Greg Murrie
Elizabeth Nicolls
Anh Noel
Daniel O’Sullivan
Micaela Pattison
Elizabeth Rechniewski
Jack Robbers
Monica Sestito
shaheen
Deborah Sharp
Albie Sharpe
Will Simmons
Victoria Smith (USYD Alumni)
Richard Stonewall
melissa sukkarieh
Penelope Tsoutas
Elizabeth Walker
Sinead Wilson
Bronwyn Winter
Catherine Zheng



Get in touch with the Casuals Network and access our reports into wage theft at the University of Sydney here: https://usydcasuals.network/ 
Facebook: facebook.com/usydcasualsnetwork
Twitter: @CasualsUsyd