Posts tagged with precarious employment
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Higher education workers support teachers in their fight against casualisation
It has been reported this week that nearly 20,000 new primary and secondary teachers will need to be employed over the next five years to replace staff reaching retirement.
This comes as proposed NSW government reforms will hand control of staffing to local principals, allowing them to replace long-serving, permanent teachers with casual and short-term arrangements.
NSW Teachers Federation President, Maurie Mulheron, is concerned recent graduates will be exploited to achieve a cheaper workforce. He said:
“What we will have is a totally deregulated staffing structure, with an increasing number of temporary positions, no incremental pay scale and no guaranteed executive structure."
''The department and the minister see this as a golden time. They can exploit the fact there are a lot of young people coming in and a cheaper workforce. But they can also change the culture by putting them on short-term or casual arrangements. We're extremely worried about the future of the profession.''
The attacks facing NSW teachers are similar to those faced by higher education staff. Our sector has already seen a dramatic increase in precarious employment, with as many as 77,000 staff in Australian universities employed as casuals. Large-scale casualisation has begun to undermine the sustainability of the academic profession in Australia.
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Inside Story review of precarious employment in US
Inside Story has an interesting review by Sara Dowse of Ross Perlin's book Intern Nation here.
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ACTU's Working Australia Census and Insecure Work
Early findings from the ACTU's Working Australia Census 2011 have found that Australians want greater job security and are struggling to cope with the rising cost of living. The ACTU media release ...
Media Release
(793 KB) - PDFInsecure work and costs of living head workers concerns, new survey finds
Published: 20 Jun, 2011
Tags: casuals, precarious employment
