National Tertiary Education Union claims Flinders University casuals underpaid

Flinders Uni is facing claims hundreds of employees have been getting short-changed for years for critical work with students.

A dispute over pay for casuals has been lodged against Flinders University by the National Tertiary Education Union.

The union claims many Flinders casuals have been underpaid since mid-2019 when the current enterprise agreement was struck.

In dispute are the rates of pay for casuals who oversee a tutorial or mark a student’s paper.

Under the agreement, a casual taking a tutorial in which they use “autonomous academic judgment” would be paid $141.50 an hour.

Flinders University. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

If they take a tutorial where they are following a script and have been instructed on what to say, they would only earn $94.34 an hour.

In marking papers, they would earn $47.16 an hour if they follow an exemplar but $65.10 if they need to exercise “significant academic judgment”.

NTEU SA secretary Andrew Miller said potentially hundreds of casuals would be affected.

The union has asked Flinders for an independent audit of whether casuals have been performing work at the higher level but been paid at the lower rate.

“The uni always tends to default to the lower rates,” NTEU SA secretary Andrew Miller said.

A Flinders spokesman said more information would be required to resolve the claim.

“The letter (from the NTEU) does not provide any evidence of underpayment of staff,” he said.

“We have since requested further information from the NTEU in order to properly consider their concerns.”

If the union and Flinders fail to reach agreement, the dispute would go to the Fair Work Commission, Mr Miller said.