There’s talk around the campus traps of more continuing jobs for them

It adds to the impetus established at Western Sydney U, where union and management have agreed on a proposal to create continuing positions for academic casuals (its subject to a staff vote). Australian Catholic U has followed and there is talk of something at Uni Newcastle.

Uni Sydney observers suggest 800 or so continuing jobs would go a long way to “decasualise” the academic workforce – at least for casuals who want continuing employment.

As to how many there of those, whoever knows, it isn’t CMM.

But the category most likely is members of the permanent precariat, PhD grads surviving semester to semester who are said to account for 40 per cent or so of Uni Sydney of the 5000 academic casuals.