Many formal sector jobs are increasingly precarious and poorly paid, meaning that formal work is not an avenue to greater social equality for many people.
Casual staff often miss out on professional development and feel isolated and invisible. Team teaching helps support these staff while improving the continuity and quality of university teaching.
Universities have legitimate reasons for employing some staff on casual contracts, but the impacts of the COVID pandemic have brought long-standing problems to a head. Now is the time to act on these.
More than a dozen Australian universities have been publicly accused of underpaying staff. Some have paid millions in backpay after audits. And a big factor in wage theft is the rise of casualisation.
Even before COVID-19, 22% of international students often went without food or necessities and almost half depended on paid work to cover the rent. With many of their jobs gone, they’re now desperate.
If schools and childcare centres shut without the necessary support, Australia may permanently lose valuable teachers and early childhood educators.
Coal stockpiled before being loaded on to ships at a terminal in Gladstone. researchers say Labor should not “cozy up” to the coal industry.
Dave Hunt/AAP
Fabio Mattioli, The University of Melbourne and Kari Dahlgren, London School of Economics and Political Science
Labor will not win an election by cozying up to coal or weakening its climate target. Instead, it must find the common ground uniting workers in the cities and the regions - job insecurity.
In recent years casual work has been a fairly stable part of the labour market, one that provides a pathway to permanent work.
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Both leaders were non-specific when asked underemployment during the 2013 Peoples Forum.
AAP
Jobs growth is a centrepiece political promise for both political parties but nothing has been said on what type of jobs these will be. At least President Obama told Americans in his 2013 State of the…
Millions of workers struggle on the emerging periphery while those at the core enjoy the benefits of stability and skills.
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The Fair Work Commission’s recent wage review may have struck an increased pay deal for low-paid workers but its decision overlooks the growth of a worrying new divide in the Australian workforce. With…