Key PointsUnions have criticised the NSW government for withdrawing a non-binding agreement to improve pay conditions. The NSW government says negotiations are ongoing and have urged the unions to remain engaged in the process. The bargaining comes amid a nationwide shortage of teachers.
When the NSW premier walks into a school, overworked teachers have been told to walk out.
It comes amid a nationwide shortage of teachers and as the Victorian government last week announced it will cut 325 full-time equivalent jobs from the state’s education department.
Pay negotiations in NSW went off the tracks this week as the teachers union set about organising political and industrial action until the government “comes to its senses”.
That’s despite Education Minister Prue Car being adamant the two parties are on the same side and broadly in agreement about a deal that would drastically improve teachers’ wages and conditions.
In a Thursday after-school broadcast, the union urged its 60,000 members to urgently call and email Ms Car, Premier Chris Minns and local MPs about the wages deal.
“And if the premier, deputy premier (Car) and/or treasurer come to your school before honouring the deal, walk out,” deputy union president Henry Rajendra said.
“When they walk in, you walk out.
“The government has only a few weeks to come to its senses … to honour the deal.”
Further action could be decided at the union’s council meeting this weekend.
It comes after years of sluggish pay, chronic school staff shortages and complaints about the level of administrative work lumped on classroom teachers.
Negotiations broke down on Thursday after the union rejected the government’s offer for a four-year agreement.
Both sides have agreed to restructure pay grades from term four but the union wants a short-term deal and a return to the negotiating table in mid-2024.
The restructure would boost first-year teachers’ salaries by 12 per cent to $85,000 annually, make salary progression more regular and lift top-of-the-scale teachers’ pay by $9,000 to $122,100 per year.
That would make graduate and top-level teachers in NSW the highest paid in the nation.
The withdrawn one-year non-binding agreement outlined changes to the existing award on salaries, proposing a boost of nearly $10,000 for entry-level educators and by about $9,000 for the maximum teaching salary.
Car said she was “really disappointed” in the union’s actions, given there was so much agreement and negotiations were ongoing.
“We want to do this for teachers. I can’t get clearer than that,” she said.
She rejected any suggestion she was not in the corner of teachers, having made “massive strides” since Labor took office in March.
The NSW government had made 9,000 temporary staff permanent, installed a respected former teacher to head the department and slashed administrative tasks, she said.
Former education minister Sarah Mitchell called on the government to be honest about what budget savings and productivity improvements would be made to pay for the deal, and how that would affect teachers, parents and students.
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