NTEU investigating the use of fixed-term contracts and minimum research allocation at UniMelb

Dear colleague, 

After a long NTEU campaign on insecure work, the University of Melbourne made a promise in the new Enterprise Agreement to reduce its reliance on casual and fixed-term workers. They also committed to converting the thousands of staff on fixed-term contracts who are performing work this University needs to function, year in, year out.  

We know from past experience, such as in the wage theft campaign of 2019-2021, that we cannot rely on University management alone to adhere to their legal obligations. 

Fixed-term employment

The NTEU is beginning to investigate the depth and breadth of the problem of fixed-term contracts at our university.

The NTEU University of Melbourne Branch has created a survey to assess how many staff are on fixed-term contracts at the University, how many may be eligible for conversion under the University’s legally-binding commitments and whether the University is improperly using fixed-term contracts. 

If you are a fixed-term professional or academic employee of the University of Melbourne, please complete the survey here by Monday 12 August to help us understand the issue of fixed-term contracts and to make contact with you about your situation.

Minimum research allocation for academic staff

In the new Enterprise Agreement, NTEU members also won, for the first time, a minimum workload allocation for non-teaching duties. 

Again, however, the University appears to be lax on its own legal commitments. The NTEU UniMelb Branch has created a survey to understand the current status of academic workload allocations across the University for education- or teaching-focused staff. 

If you are employed as an education- or teaching-focused academic staff member on a permanent contract, please complete the survey here by Monday 12 August.

If the results of these two surveys indicate non-compliance with the new Enterprise Agreement, the NTEU UniMelb Branch intends to launch campaigns to win secure employment and minimum research allocation for staff at the University. 

In solidarity,

David Gonzalez 

NTEU UniMelb Branch President

PS: Since the war on Gaza has intensified, staff across the University of Melbourne have reported an uptick in overt and subtle instances of censorship and curtailment of their speech. If you have examples of this happening to you, please report it to the Branch’s confidential incident log (link https://nteuunimelb.com/censorship) to help us track when this happens. 

To learn more about how NTEU UniMelb members are supporting Palestine visit, www.nteuunimelb.com/palestine 

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