A survey claims casuals work without pay to get the job done

It finds that for every paid hour worked, casual staff did a further 28 minutes to complete tasks.  The findings cover both academic and professional staff.

“These results reflect systemic wage theft at the University of Sydney. Over the past three decades, the University of Sydney has increasingly relied on casual labour to do its core work …. this has only been possible because the University of Sydney does not pay its casual workers for all of the work they do.”

Nor, the report argues, pay them for the skills needed to do the job. “There is considerable variation and ambiguity in the ways that teaching duties which imply high levels of responsibility are categorised and remunerated across the university,” the report states.

Anticipating criticism that the survey only covers 29 staff, the report states it, “accords with a substantial amount of other research in this area.”

Uni Sydney is reviewing mistakes back to 2014 in paying overtime for casual staff and “a small number of errors” effecting academics (CMM April 30). But this is distinct from paying for hours worked at the skill level required.