‘Staggering’ wage theft reported in education industry

A new analysis has revealed a “staggering” amount of wage theft playing out in the education industry over the past three years.

According to the Wage Theft Report, released by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) this week, higher education workers have seen at least $83.4 million worth of wage theft in the past three years. The true amount may be higher, with at least three cases still ongoing or without a figure disclosed, the report flagged.

Breaking it down by state, the report found Victoria is leading underpayments with more than $50.2 million, ahead of NSW at almost $25 million.

“The University of Melbourne takes the ignominious honour of having the highest tally for one institution, with $31.6 million in stolen wages in four separate cases. The University of Sydney is ranked second with $12.7 million,” the report said.

NTEU national president Dr Alison Barnes said the report shows clear instances of some university management teams actively avoiding paying workers who are owed wages.

“This report exposes what we’ve known for some time – systemic wage theft has been baked into universities’ business models,” Dr Barnes said.

“It’s heartbreaking our public universities are being run like greedy corporations with no respect for paying hard-working staff what they’re owed.

“The sheer scale of wage theft in higher education is staggering. It’s absolutely shameful that so many Australian university staff have had wages stolen.”

Dr Barnes called for the federal government to act appropriately if the education system is ever set to have better universities.

“The federal government now has 83 million reasons to stamp out wage theft in higher education with emphatic action,” she said.

“The Labor Party’s promise to make wage theft a crime needs strong penalties, including jail for bosses who commit the most egregious offences.

“Rampant casualisation is at the heart of the wage theft crisis that has engulfed higher education. More secure jobs will help stop the scourge.

“We need fresh root and branch inquiries into rotten university governance. Something is drastically wrong. Let’s get to the bottom of it and fix it, so we can create the better universities our country deserves.”