national
jobs protection framework
It takes soidaity to save 12,000 jobs
CASUALS FACT SHEET Impact of COVID-19 on jobs in tertiary education
Frequently Asked Questions
Australia’s higher education sector has been severely impacted by the loss of full fee paying international students due to the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Why don’t we campaign the Government for more funding to solve this problem?
Universities Australia (UA) has calculated that Australian universities will lose $4.6 billion of expected revenue this year alone, with losses continuing into 2021 and 2022, and this claim has been supported by financial data provided by individual universities. Both the NTEU and UA have projected job losses stemming from this be around 30,000 actual positions in the absence of a National Jobs Protection Framework.
Risks for casuals with no union action Without a national framework to manage and control universities’ cost-cutting programs on our terms, we know from experience that casual staff will be heavily targeted and the first to go.
NTEU is continuing to campaign for more university funding and more secure jobs in the sector, demanding fair treatment by the Government. A National Day of Action is happening on 21 May. Government funding already announced in relation to the COVID-19 shortfall was minimal and has not covered losses associated with the reduction in international students. Given the absence of leadership from the Morrison Government on this crisis, it has been left to the NTEU to step forward and ensure a free-for-all of cost cutting does not occur. In fact, the Government’s statements around the relief package have revealed a subtle shift towards more privatisation and a slimmed down sector. By keeping continuing positions alive in the sector, we are fighting the Government’s agenda for a teaching focussed, high volume, low cost, privately funded sector. By fighting for this Framework we are ensuring that work and positions are kept in the sector through the crisis.
In first semester we have already seen universities move to quickly reduce casual employment as a knee-jerk response to the crisis. Without a national framework this will likely accelerate in June, as there will be a heavily reduced semester two international student intake, and the bulk of work moving courses online will have been completed.
Casuals in other sectors received JobKeeper payments. What about us?
Under this free-for-all scenario, without a framework, opportunities for casuals to re-engage in casual or continuing work will be extremely rare as all universities will be cutting staff at the same time.
How do we know this framework will be implemented fairly?
Without the Framework, we could see hardworking casuals rapidly and permanently forced out of the sector.
Overpage: How the Framework Protect Casuals
Under current Government regulations, it is almost impossible for universities to qualify for JobKeeper. Regulations have been changed four times to stop universities from qualifying. See our fact sheet at www.nteu.org.au/covid-19/policy.
The Framework gives oversight to a special local joint unionmanagement committee at each university that will oversee all aspects of the Framework implementation. Any complaints or disputes regarding the implementation of the Framework will go to this committee. If it is not resolved it will go to an independent arbitrator to ensure issues are resolved. Further, the Framework establishes a National Expert Panel to ensure that university losses are proportional to any measures they wish to implement under the Framework.
THIS FACT SHEET AVAILABLE ONLINE AT WWW.NTEU.ORG.AU/COVID-19/FRAMEWORK