The National Tertiary Education Union is calling for casual and contract staff to be paid 17 per cent superannuation contributions by their employers, a jump from the 9.5 per cent they receive at the moment, as part of new enterprise bargaining negotiations.

Employers are alarmed with the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association warning that the move could cost the sector $700m over four years.

The move would  bring casual and contract staff into line with permanent uni staff who get 17 per cent, and leave then way ahead of the millions other workers who get a government specified 9.5 per cent from employers.

However independent news site Campus Morning Mail has reported that the cost is likely to be far lower than the AHEIA has claimed. While there are tens of thousands of casuals, the extra 7.5 per cent would not be that big a burden for universities because most don’t work a full week or make much money from teaching. They average $40 000 a year.

And while AHEIA did not include contract staff in its calculations one observer suggests it would not matter if it had because universities structure contracts so that workers do not qualify for superannuation. To make the cut contractors often need two consecutive years of employment.

Perhaps indicating how few people would actually be involved, Curtin University has offered to extend 17 per cent super coverage to part-time staff, who now receive just the 9.5 per cent government mandated payment.

On one calculation  the overall cost is $50-$60 million a year across the system, on a $15 billion system salary cost. “We have been here before,” one long-time observer of wage negotiations says. “When maternity leave was being negotiated university managements warned it would push salary bills up by 15 per cent.”

However Curtin U’s calculation of the cost of extending extra super to all staff now excluded, which means casuals as well as fixed term is $35m over four years, which makes $60m a year for the whole system look a touch optimistic, CMM reported.