‘Disgrace’, ‘exploitation’: 2 universities under fire from staff, union 

Allegations of continued staff underpayment at Deakin University and “brutal” job cuts at Macquarie University have drawn sharp criticism from the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and prompted direct industrial action at one campus.

Deakin University under fire for ‘re-exploiting’ underpaid staff

In May 2024, Deakin University made a voluntary disclosure to the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) after identifying “inadvertent underpayment” of staff throughout the institution, relaying to the academics affected that they would “fully remediate affected staff and improve our systems and processes”.

Fast-forward to May 2025, and the NTEU alleges that the university has not only failed to remediate staff affected by these underpayments but is also actively furthering the exploitation by forcing some staff to work on “low pay”.

According to the union, staff are still waiting for their back pay a year later after the university admitted to various underpayments. On top of that, the union claims staff are being left “hundreds of dollars worse off” after an introduction of 16-week contracts with no 25 per cent casual loading paired with bundled tutorial and lecture rates.

“Deakin’s wage theft admission is totally meaningless without repaying the money stolen from its staff,” said NTEU Victorian division secretary Sarah Roberts.

“To add insult to injury, these casual academics are now being forced onto lower pay rates with dangerous workloads.”

Some staff have allegedly been demoted to junior pay rates while having years or decades of experience in the role.

“Staff with decades of teaching experience are suddenly being paid the lowest rate,” said Roberts.

“Forcing staff to live contract to contract, while slashing their pay by hundreds of dollars and not even paying them the money they were owed more than a year ago is a disgrace.

“Deakin’s university council is supposed to oversee management. But it seems like they are working hand in glove to further exploit staff who have already been ripped off.

“This is yet another example of the broken university governance model that has enormous impacts on students and staff not only in Victoria but right around the country.”

In a statement given to HR Leader, a Deakin University spokesperson touched on the underpayments that occurred last year, stating: “At the time, the vice-chancellor expressed the university’s regret that this had occurred and its determination to make good.

“Staff were encouraged to come forward if they believed they had been underpaid, and Deakin has contacted all current and former sessional staff who performed marking work at the university since mid-2017. Deakin is working to identify affected staff and resolve any underpayments.”

Strike hits Macquarie University over looming job losses

As previously reported by HR Leader, Macquarie University is set to scrap a number of courses due to a “brutal” restructure – leading to over 75 job losses.

Courses such as politics, gender studies, criminology, and psychology are set to be discontinued, alongside master’s degrees in electronics engineering, ancient history, and two IT fields.

“I and so many other staff at Macquarie had an absolutely sick feeling in our stomachs when these cuts were announced. My heart just sank,” said NTEU MQ branch president Dr Nicholas Harrigan.

As a result, on Tuesday (18 June), close to 100 staff and students combined for a sit-in at the university’s student centre after being refused entry to Macquarie’s Chancellery Building. The group marched across campus to their new site for the sit-in – residing there for two hours.

“Staff are joining a proud tradition of non-violent direct action, reaching back through generations. We don’t take this lightly or frivolously. We act because we face desperate times,” said Harrigan.

“One-third of the sackings at Macquarie will involve replacing research-and-teaching staff with teaching-only roles at nearly double the workload. This isn’t progress. It’s not efficient. It’s exploitation, plain and simple.

“Students won’t decrease, but the teaching staff will. This is a travesty, a sacrilegious attack on the foundations of Australian higher education.

“The executive is gutting programs like journalism, ancient history, politics, sociology, education, and more – fields at the heart of our intellectual heritage.”

In a statement given to HR Leader, a Macquarie University spokesperson claimed the proposed curriculum changes are “to ensure that our education remains transformative for our students”.

“The proposals also respond to challenges the higher education sector is facing. They are motivated by a mission to continue offering relevant, modern, and excellent education and research, as well as ensure the university’s long-term financial resilience.

“The proposed changes are currently open for consultation with our community and their representatives, including unions.

“The university is committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom. This includes lawful and peaceful protest that is safe and appropriate for our community and campus.”

Harrigan asserted that the university’s budget is balanced enough to avoid the proposed cuts, claiming it’s more about overflowing student classrooms.

“Management claims this is about balanced budgets, but the budget is already essentially balanced. There is no budget crisis. The only real motive is packing more students like sardines into fewer classrooms.

“These cuts mean students at Macquarie will lose their right to a quality education, staff will lose their right to fairness at work, and Australia will lose a piece of its intellectual soul,” said Harrigan.