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Workforce
‘ Every week I experience wage theft ’
Monash Uni casual allegedly owed over $ 40k .
By Emilie Lauer
A
Monash casual academic has said being owed tens of thousands of dollars from the university has forced him to go into debt between semesters to pay rent .
Michael Lazarus , a casual lecturer in political and social inquiry , has taught at Monash since 2015 and says he works a minimum of four hours of unpaid work each week .
“ I really feel undervalued in the strongest possible way . We ’ re responsible for the quality of education , and we ’ re getting paid peanuts ,” Lazarus told Campus Review .
“ The feeling is of being so vulnerable and so disadvantaged in a system in which there ’ s just so much money , it has an impact .”
The National Tertiary Education Union ( NTEU ) recently sent a letter to Monash ’ s vice-chancellor accusing the university of systemic underpayment of casual staff .
This came after 11 Australian universities were flagged by the Fair Work Commission for ongoing wage theft , including UTS , the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney .
According to Lazarus , systemic underpayment within the university sector is part of a larger culture around casualisation , where staff take unpaid work in hopes to gain a permanent job .
He estimates Monash owes him at least $ 40,000 since he began working .
“ I think the universities cash in on the fact that it is so wonderful to teach , they just expect people to do it for so little ,” he said .
“ I ’ m a very committed teacher , and I think it ’ s so wonderful to be able to teach people at this level , but you are really treated as if they could say goodbye to you tomorrow – like you are hired help .”
Being a casual academic also limits research opportunities and further career development , Lazarus said .
In between semesters and employment contracts , he loses email access and privileges to borrow books , which delays his research output .
“ There ’ s a sense in which , once your contract finishes , you are not part of the Monash community anymore ,” he said . Scott Robinson , who has taught at
Monash ’ s school of philosophical , historical
We ’ re responsible for the quality of education , and we ’ re getting paid peanuts .
and international studies for five years , said there ’ s growing bitterness among casual staff .
“ We sort of have to wait with bated breath to see whether we ’ ll get a job . It produces a lot of stress , and makes it very difficult to plan for the future ,” he said .
With a permanent position , Robinson said he could build an expertise , improve lesson plans , better communicate with students , try new things and invest in his teaching skills .
A Monash University spokesperson told Campus Review the university had taken “ significant steps to improve its systems and processes for payment of casual staff ”.
“ A total of 597 casual and sessional employees have transitioned to more secure forms of employment in the last year , and a further 54 contract employees have transitioned to continuing employment over the same period ,” a statement read . ■
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