What you need to know - your rights as a casual!

It's that time of the semester again when many casual and sessional academic staff ask us questions about their employment conditions. Most commonly the questions asked refer to what duties they can and cannot be expected to perform as part of their teaching hour payment and how marking payments should be worked out.

Unfortunately a great deal of variation exists in the practice between departments, let alone faculties. This results in some casual academics getting a better deal than others (actually more like the case of bad vs even worse!) To ensure that the NTEU can tackle some of this issues we need :

(a) your membership!
We have a hard time negotiating with the university on behalf of groups who are not our members.

(b) information!
We need you to tell us what is going on in your departments in regards to working conditions so we can work out ways of improving individual and collective situations of the casual workforce in the university.

(c) your participation!
We need casual workers to become active in the union in order be part of, as well as draw on, the strength of the collective which has helped us win better conditions in the past.

The following is an extract from the first issue of Connect, an NTEU Victorian Division publication for all casual and sessional staff.

Come in and get a copy of Connect at the Branch office or download a pdf version from the NTEU Victorian Division website


Letter of Appointment

All employees should receive a letter of appointment prior to commencement of work. Your letter of appointment must stipulate the type of employment (e.g. casual) and the terms of engagement in relation to:

• the duties required
• the number of hours required
• the rate of pay for each class of duty required
• a statement that any additional duties required during the semester will be paid for
  
• other main conditions of employment (including the identity of the employer, and the documentary, or other recorded source, from which such conditions derive)
• reporting relationships that apply

You must receive your letter of appointment before you start work.

Preparation, Marking, Consultation

The expectation in relation to preparation, marking and consultation should not extend beyond the number of hours assumed in the rates of pay. It is significant to note that teaching casuals are only required to undertake "reasonably contemporaneous" marking and student consultation. Hence, casual tutors or lecturers who mark exams and assignments due in the assessment periods should be paid seperately for these. Similarly, student consultation does not extend to an allocation of consultation time that is not reasonably contemporanoeus with the class. Sitting in on lectures, marking papers for other staff, and attending demonstrators' meetings are all activities you should be paid seperately for.

This issues of 'extra duties' associated with teaching is a common problem area for casual staff. Through getting involved in the union you can work together with other staff facing similar problems.