Telling testimony La Trobe sessionals winning improved conditions By Linda Gale NTEU Vic Division Industrial Officer
Feedback given by sessional staff at LaTrobe University has highlighted some deplorable working conditions, and has led to an impressive set of recommendations. The University must now implement those recommendations and provide improved working conditions for all sessional staff.
The La Trobe University Collective Agreement, finalised at the end of 2009, included some significant gains for sessional academic staff, such as separate payment for marking, increased pay for subject coordination, and opportunities for existing staff to apply for Early Career Development Fellowships. A number of other proposals for improving casual working conditions were referred by the Agreement to a joint Union management working party. The working party was three management nominees and three union nominees (one industrial officer and two rank and file sessional members). It held extensive consultations with the La Trobe University community, including a series of forums attended primarily by sessional staff. The experiences which staff related in those forums exposed the reality of sessional conditions and punctured the comfortable assumption of University management that everything was well in the world of sessional work. One academic at a regional campus had never been provided with any work station or access to university systems, so had her third year students’ major assignments stored on her own rickety old computer at home. Another had students in practicum after the end of her teaching contract, who rang her mobile whenever they struck a difficulty. It sometimes took half an hour to talk them through a solution, but the University provided no payment for the staff member’s time or phone bills. One academic worked across five subjects in two faculties. She had five separate contracts, five time sheets, each signed-off by different people, and only three of her contracts had been “activated” seven weeks into term, so she was yet to be paid at all for the remaining two. Her case was the most extreme, but late payments and multiple contracts were commonplace.
Staff told of student emails sent late at night, followed quickly by complaints if they had not been answered by the next morning. Some reported that they are barred from photocopier use in their departments, and have inadequate office and IT resources. Many do a substantial amount of work from home, and meet all expenses of maintaining computers, software and broadband access to do so. Although home office expenses are tax deductible, that doesn’t help if your income is below the tax threshold. A common concern was “being thrown in at the deep end” with superficial or no training in their teaching roles. More established sessionals were looking for opportunities to access conference or research funding, and in some disciplines raised the need to undertake professional development activities to maintain their professional registration. The NTEU nominees on the Working Party extend thanks to all the sessional staff who contributed to the consultative forums. Their testimony was critical to achieving strong recommendations which are targeted to the stated concerns and expectations of casual academics at La Trobe University. The Working Party has produced a detailed report, including 18 recommendations which the University management and the NTEU will now meet to implement. Recommendations include: • Production of a handbook for casuals. • Improved training for tutors, both before and during semester. • Streamlined pay and contract arrangements. • Improved induction for sessional staff. • Improved access to facilities and resources. • Ensuring marking is paid for fairly. The full report including all recommendations, is available online at www.nteu.org.au/library/view/id/1291
read online at www.unicasual.org.au
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