Casual staff are being thrown into online teaching without formal tech training, say unions
The federal government has failed to recognise the need for a rescue package to address the “severe economic effects” of the Covid-19 crisis on Australia’s universities, the National Tertiary Education Union has said.
Alison Barnes, the union’s national president, said the Morrison government’s second economic stimulus package offered little relief for tertiary teachers and researchers who faced increasingly insecure employment.
“Given the urgent need to curtail the spread of the epidemic, most universities are likely to close for some period of time, as most grapple with how to continue with courses online,” she said.
“This is putting enormous pressure on staff, and in particular casual staff, whose already insecure jobs are even more uncertain.”
Her comments coincide with the appointment of Greg Combet, a former Labor MP and Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, to head a national taskforce to report on the workplace impacts of Covid-19. The appointment was announced by federal attorney-general Christian Porter on 20 March.
Sally McManus, the present ACTU secretary, has posted a series of videos on social media advising casual staff of their rights in relation to Covid-19 impacts. She said that all workers should have access to paid leave if required to self-isolate for 14 days.
However, an additional problem that is emerging for casual university staff is the pressure and lack of support involved in rapidly switching from face-to-face teaching to online courses.
Several casual teachers have told Research Professional News that they have had to buy additional equipment such as computer screens, video cameras, camera stands and electronic cables to set up home studios for online teaching. They have also been asked to “be across” online programmes such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams without any formal training by university technical support staff.
Barnes said her union had launched a petition calling on vice-chancellors to offer more support for casual staff affected by the crisis.
“The sector is grappling with the financial uncertainties of government funding freezes, the loss of international student income and the fall in student funding as domestic students withdraw from cancelled classes that cannot be transferred online,” she said.