BY JAMES VASSILOPOULOS
CANBERRA — On August 2, the ACT Australian Education Union executive decided recommend to the AEU branch council that the ACT Labor governments third offer in the initial installment of the enterprise bargaining agreement be accepted, thus cancelling a planned half-day teachers' strike on September 17.
At its August 14 branch council meeting, the AEU decided on six key demands that had to be accepted by the government. These included an initial date of September 1 for any pay increase; a second pay increase date of March 1, 2004; a further pay increase of 1.87% (taking the total salary increase to 6.87%) to the top level one teacher rate (there are nine different tiers of this base rate); an interim increase for causal teachers of 6.87% above the present top rate of $214.54; and the creation of a new, 10th tier level one rate.
The government gave in on the demand for a further 1.87% increase to the top level one teacher rate. On the other issue key issues, however, it was the union leadership which ceded ground. The government made no commitment for a new, 10th tier level one rate. It reaffirmed its initial increase date of October 1, although this was an advance over its first proposal of January 1. The government also did not agree that there would be a second increase date of March 1.
For casual teachers, the government offered a new single pay increase to $222. For the vast majority of casual teachers this is a 16-36% increase, but for 131 casual teachers it is just a 3.5% increase. The AEU executive explains these as "a reasonable compromise to finalise the first increase".
A comparison of this deal with the union's initial enterprise bargaining claim reveals more compromises. The initial claim was for a 6.87% initial increase for all teachers. The final proposal is for a 6.87% increase only for teachers on the highest tier. Level one teachers on the first to fifth tiers will only get a 3.5% increase.
The agreement is also unlikely to mean that ACT teachers will be paid on par with NSW teachers in the future. NSW teachers have recently rejected a 3% initial increase, holding out for something better.
From Green Left Weekly, August 27, 2003.
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