“It is heartbreaking our public universities are being run like greedy corporations with no respect for paying hard-working staff what they’re owed,” NTEU president Alison Barnes says

Universities have underpaid higher education staff $83m “in recent years” according to a new report from the National Tertiary Education Union.

The union states it reached the figure by analysing 34 separate cases, where amounts are disclosed, at 22 public universities, with three more cases on-going.

“This report exposes what we have known for some time – systemic wage theft has been baked into universities’ business models,” Dr Barnes adds.

The union attributes underpayments to a range of factors,

* staff, generally casual academics, being paid a fixed rate, rather than for the time a task takes

* staff not being paid at the correct rate

* entitlements not being paid.

What the union wants

The NTEU warns, “casual workers can be subject to power inequities and fear of reprisal –  including the loss of work. It call for,

*  the Commonwealth to “criminalise wage theft”

* require universities to set and report on, reducing casual and increasing continuing employment

* state and federal parliamentary inquiries into causes and solutions.

A mess of universities making

The union’s claims are terribly timed for universities with underpayment allegations to answer and/or cases to rectify. Last week the Fair Work Ombudsman launched a second case in the Federal Court against the University of Melbourne, alleging underpayments (CMM February 13).

And in Senate Estimates last week FW Ombudsman Sandra Parker renewed her criticism of universities with underpayment issues, warning that breaching their enterprise agreements is very serious and an issue for the O’Kane Universities Accord team to consider. Education Minister Jason Clare has specified “employment conditions” as of Professor O’Kane’s brief.