Union calls for universities to be honest about extent of staff casualisation
Staff on casual contracts are treated as “second-class academics” in higher education, a report from the University and College Union has claimed. The union is calling for action from the Office for Students to force universities to publish data on casualisation.
In the report, written by Newcastle University academics Olivia Mason and Nick Megoran, the union says that academics who work on casual contracts are “rendered invisible” because of their employment status. Staff on fixed-term, teaching-only or zero-hours contracts are denied standard academic freedoms and “left vulnerable to exploitative practices”.