It follows Western Sydney U’s breakthrough announcement

 Australian Catholic U has agreed to reduce its reliance on sessional academic staff by more than 20 per cent. This would deliver the equivalent of 85 FTE new on-going academic positions, with existing sessionals having priority.

It comes as part of bargaining between management and the National Tertiary Education Union for a new enterprise agreement.

This does not mean an overall deal is done to improve the condition of casual staff. NTEU branch president Leah Kaufmann says they continue to face employment uncertainty and receive less superannuation contributions.

But it is a significant step to reduce the size of the precariat at ACU. It follows a breakthrough deal reached last month by the NTEU and management at Western Sydney U in July, as part of bargaining for a new agreement there.

If approved by staff the proposed WSU agreement will include 150 new FTE jobs for casual academics to convert to continuing employment (CMM July 26 and 27).

With WSU and now ACU setting precedents similar arrangements at other universities will surely come.