Curtin University staff have walked off the job for three hours this afternoon in an escalation of their long-running industrial campaign seeking better pay and conditions.

The stop-work order began at 2pm and has resulted in classes being cancelled or rescheduled, with "hundreds" of academics joining the action, according to the National Tertiary Education Union.

First semester commenced three weeks ago.

At a union meeting held this afternoon, staff voted almost unanimously to ramp up their campaign, with more strike action planned over the coming weeks unless Curtin management improves its current offer.

In a video message to students, NTEU Curtin president Scott Fitzgerald said the strike action was being taken because of the significant issues that had emerged in recent years related to  workloads, salaries, and secure employment.

"As branch president, people come up to me and share their concerns about their ability to put fuel in their car, to visit the doctor when they need to, to pay for childcare costs," he said.

"That affects staff, but it also affects students, and students are wise enough to know that their learning conditions are based on staff working conditions."

Curtin 'can afford' staff pay hike

Dr Fitzgerald said staff had begun negotiations in July last year, and management had offered a 2.2 per cent pay rise for five years, which was well below last year's WA inflation rate of 7.8 per cent.

The union is seeking five per cent per year.

"Our demands are salary increases that reflect cost-of-living increases, measures to address unmanageable workloads, greater job security, particularly for our casual staff, academic freedom to be secured," he said.

"We also want to make sure we secure better working conditions and security particularly for our First Nations staff."

He told ABC Radio Perth that Curtin management opted for a non-union ballot of staff last month to ascertain support for its latest pay and conditions offer, which was rejected by 72 per cent of those who voted.

Dr Fitzgerald said the university had posted a $113 million surplus last year, and could well afford to pay staff more.

"We think that Curtin management can do a lot better given the financial situation that Curtin as an institution is in, and given the huge amount of work staff put in to get the institution through the period of COVID," he said.

Humanities lecturer Francis Russell said casual staff were particularly hard done by, some of them working for a decade without job security, which meant they had no access to sick pay and were not paid between semesters.

The union said 70 to 80 per cent of teaching was done by casuals in some departments, and it wanted more of the university's 5,800 casuals to be given ongoing positions.

"Since COVID, Curtin University staff have virtually had to reinvent the wheel, jumping to online modes of delivery, dealing with very, very complicated issues arising from students that they care about deeply," Dr Russell said.

He said Curtin had also "disgracefully gone backwards on First Nations employment", with just 1.9 per cent of current staff Indigenous, compared with 2.1 per cent in 2021.

Dr Russell said the strike action had widespread support and he expected "hundreds" of staff would be walking off the job.

Wage theft allegations across sector

In a statement, a Curtin spokesperson said it would meet union representatives on Thursday with fresh offers on a number of issues, including salaries.

“The University remains committed to good faith discussions and a quick and positive resolution to the renewed process," the spokesperson said.

"Curtin University supports those staff who are NTEU members exercising their legal rights to take protected industrial action.”

Allegations of wage theft have emerged at universities across Australia in the past two years and in June last year the Fair Work Ombudsman announced the university sector would be one of its key compliance priorities following "regular self-reports from universities of significant underpayments, including to casual workers".

Casuals at Curtin told the ABC last year they were paid per assignment, instead of per hour, an arrangement that was costing them thousands of dollars in lost salary annually, and felt burnt out and exploited.

Student support for strike

Curtin student guild president Dylan Botica said most students backed the industrial action, despite the "significant" impact it would have on them.

"Students have been very supportive of the action, and this is despite complaints to us about not getting enough feedback from staff on assignments, and staff not being responsive enough," he said.

"I think students are now seeing the conditions that staff have been working under and are seeing how they need to be fighting for better conditions."

The WA government has also announced an investigation into the structure of WA's four publicly funded universities amid low growth in student enrolments.

The report, due later this year, also aims to look at ways to attract and retain staff, and enhance the student experience.