Victorian teachers to be nation's best-paid
The education union has hailed a deal that will make Victorian teachers the highest-paid in the country as the best deal for its members in more than 25 years. The agreement between the State Government and the Australian Education Union (AEU) resolves a 14-month industrial row, which included three statewide teachers' strikes and weeks of rolling half-day stoppages.
The unions had threatened to walk off the job from May 13 to 15, disrupting during the first national literacy and numeracy tests. The resolution of the industrial dispute means those tests are now likely to go ahead without disruption.
AEU Victorian branch president Mary Bluett said it was the best enterprise bargaining deal for teachers that she had seen in 25 years with the union.
11% rise for some
However, there appears to be some contention over the increases announced by Premier John Brumby and Education Minister Bronwyn Pike this morning.
The Government says the deal will equate to a 4.9% pay rise in the first year and 2.7% in the second and third years of the agreement.
But the union believes some of biggest beneficiaries of the deal will get between 8% and 11%.
"It's a complex arrangement, but the least any teacher is going to get out of this is somewhere between five and six per cent per annum,'' Ms Bluett said.
"This is the best outcome in terms of salary and career structure in my history as a union official of 25 years standing,'' Ms Bluett said.
Pupil-free days to stay
A key sticking point in negotiations was the issue of pupil-free days, which the Government had originally wanted to abolish.
Under the new deal, three pupil free training days will be brought to the start of the term and become professional training days and only one will be held mid-term, in a bid to minimise disruption to parents.
It also includes an exits strategy to remove disengage teachers from classroom and find them new jobs.
Secondary students will get an extra six days of tuition each year under the deal, Mr Brumby said, describing it as a win for students and teachers.
"A graduate teacher in Victoria currently earns $46,127 and under this agreement will become the highest-paid graduate teacher in the country earning $51,184, while an experienced classroom teacher will receive a $10,000 pay rise to $75,500."
Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government's wages policy of a 3.25% rise every year, plus increases off-set by service improvement.
One-off payments
Teachers would keep one marking and report writing day at the end of semester one, Mr Brumby said.
Teachers also will receive a one-off payment of $1,000 and principals $2,000 at the agreement's start.
Ms Pike said the deal would increase all teachers' pay, make teacher graduates the highest-paid in the country, give high-performing principals executive contracts and create six more days tuition a year for secondary school students.
She said teachers would now implement a school reform process encouraging the best teachers to move to schools where they were most needed and encouraging high-performing graduates in other fields to enter teaching.
Battle over
Victorian teachers had demanded that the Government match their salaries with those of NSW teachers.
They had sought a 10% pay rise each year for the next three years and a reduction in short-term contract employment.
But the Government had stuck to its offer of a 3.25% annual rise, in line with its public sector wages policy.
After a statewide strike earlier this year and weeks of rolling stoppages, teachers threatened to sabotage the national literacy and numeracy tests with a series of four-hour stoppages.
The Australian Education Union also won public support after an advertising campaign showing the disparity of incomes between teachers and other professionals and their interstate counterparts.
State Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu last month vowed to spend $396 million over three years on teachers' wages to boost them from being the lowest-paid teachers in the country to the highest-paid.
with AAP
Needless to say, I am quite happy about all this!
It's all Part of the Job....
