Western Sydney Uni to offer permanent roles to some casuals

Western Sydney University will offer permanent jobs to some casual academics in the first program of its kind in Australia.

Western Sydney University is offering permanent jobs to some of its academic casuals.

Western Sydney University has started recruiting for 30 full-time academic positions as part of a deliberate effort to reduce the number of casually employed academics at the university.

The 30 jobs are the first of a planned 150 full-time equivalent positions which will be available to casual academics at WSU.

The new permanent job hires are the outcome of a deal between the university and the National Tertiary Education Union to reduce insecure employment among academics.

The new academic staff agreement between the university and the union includes an undertaking to reduce the overall casual workforce by at least a quarter.

“This is a major commitment by Western Sydney University and the NTEU to significantly address the issue of insecure work in the sector, giving casual academic staff more certainty and job security,” said the university’s vice-chancellor Barney Glover.

David Burchell, NTEU branch president at WSU, said the union was proud that the program for academic decasualisation at the university was the first of its kind in the Australian higher education sector.

“We look forward to working with the university to continue rolling out this important initiative,” Dr Burchell said.

The jobs were advertised this month and the university intends that successful applicants for the first 30 positions will start work on by 1 July this year. They are level A positions – the entry level for permanent academic employment – and are open to eligible casual staff at Western Sydney.