An increasing number of members of the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) are worried about their jobs, with an uncertain future staring at them.
The Union’s President Lesley Francey conducted a Survey recently to ascertain the state of affairs of its members and according to a report, almost 2000 respondents said that insecure work, casual and fixed-term employment agreements were widespread in tertiary education.
“One in six respondents said they were currently in an insecure, casual or fixed-term position, and a further one-third said they had been in such a position in the past,” she said in a report accompanying the Survey said.
Restricted rights
According to her, employees in casual or insecure work such as fixed-term employment, normally have fewer work rights.
“About 87% of the participants who were in insecure work wanted permanent employment and the rights that come with it. According to Section 66 of the Employment Relations Act, employers are allowed to employ people in fixed-term positions only for specific reasons,” she said.
Ms Francey doubted if all employers conformed to these reasons.
She was concerned that employers were more money-conscious and less concerned about their employees.
Employer misuse
Misuse of casual employment positions impeded many employees from moving into permanent positions, she said.
“The law makes it clear that there must be a genuine reason for fixed-term jobs. Such jobs cannot be used to trial a person, to encourage a person to undertake training or pursue higher qualifications or to limit someone’s legal employment rights (such as holidays or other leave),” Ms Francey said.
More than one-third of the respondents currently in non-permanent employment said that they had worked for their employer for over five years.
“The Survey showed that many of them are entrenched in insecure work. They are moving from one fixed-term agreement to the next, often teaching the same course or doing the same job year-in, year-out,” she said.
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Lesley Francey
