Kerstin Knight still remembers her joy in 2017 as she submitted her PhD and received Australia's highest educational achievement.
"[On the picture] I'm probably looking a little bit exhausted. And that's quite reflective," Dr Knight said.
"To honour the tradition when one still handed in one's PhD in hard copy ... they gave you a balloon and a little congratulations card and you got your picture taken."
There was a financial windfall too. Dr Knight was paid about $10 per hour more for her duties as a casual lecturer at the University of Melbourne after she received her doctorate.
Today, Dr Knight has the sinking feeling of going backwards financially, despite all her hard work.
During the second semester of 2020, Dr Knight noticed the university was only paying her the higher rate for some duties, instead of all of them.
"It's a significant loss of income. It's equivalent to perhaps the yearly expense that would buy my son's school books," Dr Knight said.
It came as a shock to her supervisor, who believed it was a mistake.
However, a higher-up confirmed the new rate, which Dr Knight said was implemented without her knowledge.
In addition, Dr Knight learned the new rate would be retroactively applied to backpay she was owed for previous years, after the ABC exposed $10 million in wage theft at the Arts Faculty in 2020.
"They even kind of pretended that I should be grateful for that," Dr Knight said.
Union demands public apology and backpay
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) says staff have been calling for action on PhD rates for a year, saying three faculties have stopped paying casual workers with doctoral qualifications the higher rate for all of their work.
An open letter signed by more than 1,000 staff was presented at last week's University Council meeting with an appeal for action.
The NTEU said the lack of action means it will now take the dispute to the Fair Work Commission.
"[PhD rates have] been in our higher education industrial relations system for 40 years or more and it's a well-established practice across the sector," NTEU Assistant-Secretary Sarah Roberts said.
Academics say the university not recognising its most senior qualification devalues the entire scholarly community.
Ms Roberts wants an end to the practice, backpay and a public apology.
"We're talking about people who've studied for not just their undergraduate degrees, but then post graduate degrees. So they've spent 10-12 years at university, sacrificing income they could've been gaining in that time."
It comes after a series of ABC News stories revealed wage theft at 13 public universities, leading to a number of federal inquiries.
Last year the University of Melbourne apologised, calling wage theft "systemic", but staff are frustrated it is still happening on the coal face.
"The University of Melbourne, like many universities, just don't actually have control over what's happening in their business. They make public commitments to fixing up these problems but they're not prepared to invest in enforcement and compliance," Ms Roberts said.
University says union needs to provide detail on 'grievance'
In a statement, a University of Melbourne spokesperson said there had been no central decision to change PhD rates but noted individual faculties apply the enterprise bargaining agreement.
"The enterprise agreement makes provision for higher sessional teaching rates of pay for work required 'with a requisite PhD'," the spokesperson said.
"The enterprise agreement does not regulate nor prescribe the nature of work that would warrant the payment of the PhD rate.
"Decisions relating to the type of teaching required for different purposes across the University are matters for faculties to determine."
The university accused the NTEU of holding back its evidence about individual complaints.
As a result, it said it was still working to investigate and confirm them.
"We have asked the NTEU on a number of occasions to provide further details to better inform this grievance, but to date we have not been provided with any further information," the spokesperson said.
"Accordingly, we are currently working with our academic divisions to assess whether this has indeed occurred. It is important that we have consistent standards and qualification requirements for casual sessional teaching across all of our faculties."
Extra scrutiny from state government
Last week, the Victorian Government wrote to the state's Vice Chancellors asking for evidence the sector is cleaning up its act.
"We've seen some media reports about underpayment at universities. It's across Australia. But it's also concerning that there are some Victorian universities that seem to be underpaying their staff," Higher Education Minister Gayle Tierney said.
The Minister wants to see audits and evidence things are changing in the responses from the Vice Chancellors.
"Our universities are really important to all of us for a whole range of reasons. For our economy, our culture, our international trade and expertise and our research capabilities," she said.
"We don't want any reputational damage. So it's important we ensure our universities are paying the right rate."
