Casual workers at Australian universities say they are routinely underpaid by millions of dollars a year.
A parliamentary inquiry into the unlawful underpayment of workers was told on Tuesday more than 90 per cent of casuals at the University of Sydney performed unpaid work during the second semester in 2020.
Siobhan Irving from CUPUW - a network of casual university workers - says university managers consistently ignore, deny and deflect blame when casual staff raise concerns about their payments.
"The current system simply does not work. It relies on casuals fighting tooth and nail for years on end, with little incentive for university managers to change their practices," she said.
University workers are calling for piece rates - where payment is made based on a particular amount of work done rather than the time taken to complete it - to be abolished.
They also want universities to undergo regular, independent audits to ensure the hours worked by casual staff match what they are paid.
Meanwhile, early childhood educators who consistently missed out on superannuation because of their employer's failure to pay it told the committee how it has damaged their financial future.
An anonymous witness from a childcare centre in Lithgow in NSW says she feels betrayed by her employer as her pay slip had indicated she was receiving superannuation but it was not being put into her account.
United Workers Union officer Melinda Bolton says the employer has been placed into liquidation and people impacted face the prospect of never seeing the superannuation they are owed.
Labor senator Jess Walsh says too many employers treat superannuation like a bill they just don't get around to paying.
"Too often the (tax office) lets them get away with it, but this is someone's retirement at stake," she said.
"We need a strong super system that makes employers do the right thing. We need a strong system that gives workers real power to get their stolen super back."
