Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / AEU NT Branch President Michelle Ayres says pay negotiations for teachers have come to an end, with the NT Government’s offer accepted

Transcript

AEU NT Branch President Michelle Ayres says pay negotiations for teachers have come to an end, with the NT Government’s offer accepted · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Know that teachers have indeed accepted the latest payoffer which
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: was put on the table by the Northern Territory government.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's a three percent to increase each year over three years,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: backdated to twenty twenty one. Now joining me on the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: line to explain how it all played out and what
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: it means moving forward is Michelle Airs, who is indeed
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the Australian Education Union's Northern Territory Branch president.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Michelle.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie, Michelle.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: How many members voted in favor of the payoffer?
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Oh, good question. There were around nine hundred odd members
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: slightly more than that, which represents sixty eight percent of
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: the number of people who voted.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: However, that is only around about a forty three percent
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: engagement rate across all of teachers, so it was a
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: fairly low voter turnout.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: It's funny you say that, because I was speaking to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: a couple of teachers yesterday and they had said to
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: me that they'd wanted to vote, but you know that
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: they'd gotten distract did obviously trying to do things with
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: their classes etc. And found it a bit difficult to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: be able to do it, which I know, you know
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: it might seem a bit funny, but I'm assuming that
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: that's been the case for a few people.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean what it is to me is indicative
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: of you know, this is a third one of the
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: offers that has been put to teachers this year. It's
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: the end of the year. Teachers are burnout, tired, overworked.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: The end of the year is at a crazy time
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: for teachers, really busy with school conferts and finishing up
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: assessments and transitioning kids to next classes and making sure
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: that everyone's got their reports, and so putting a vote
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: on in that time, although it might be you know,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: the click of a few buttons, it's just one extra
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: thing to do, and I think that that is something
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: that the government really needs to think about.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Does the vote in favor of the offer, though, actually
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: mean that members are happy?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: From your perspective, A.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Really good question. I don't believe that happy is the
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: best word for it. From the conversations I've had, the
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: people who voted yes were ready to settle for something.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: It's been eighteen months since they've had a pay rise,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: cost of living through the roof. They're going, hey, look,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: three percent for October of twenty one, three percent for
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: October of twenty two means I'll get an immediate six
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: percent bump to my pay plus back pay. I could
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: really use that right now. Now. We would really like
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: to see those figures be a bit higher, potentially a
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: cost of living bonus or something in there to help
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: with the crushing CPI right now. And on top of that,
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: we really would have liked to see something that would
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: tangibly assist with the crazy workloads teachers are under.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: So does this put it into the negotiations, Michelle, from
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: your perspective or not.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: No, this definitely puts an end to the negotiations for
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: this agreement, and it puts an end to the industrial action,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: and I guess that's the important one on the one
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: that your listeners would be most interested in. So now
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: the striking is done, Yeah, what happen and from here
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: is this agreement will be signed off in February or
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: March of next year. It's got a legal process to
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: go through first with fair work. Teachers will receive their
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: pay rise and their back pay then and then we
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: will go back to the table in twenty twenty four
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: for a new agreement. And that's the point when the
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: negotiations will recommence, and we'd be looking to get those
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: negotiations underway sooner rather than later so that we don't
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: end up in the same situation where we're eighteen months behind.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Michelle.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: We've tried our best to get some clarity, of course,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: around how exactly this pay rise is going to be funded.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: You know, we were told by the Education Minister last
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: week that it's definitely coming out of Education Department funding.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: But has there been much sort of further clarity or
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: anything formally from your understanding put to the schools at
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: this stage.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: I am yet to hear of anything. That doesn't mean
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: that there hasn't been. As you said, you've had conversations
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: with different people where promises have been I'm still waiting
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: to see the follow through on that, but I know
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: that we've got organizations like COGSO on our side and
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: the NTPA there so we'll continue to work with and
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: pressure the government until we see extra money put into
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: school budgets because it's needed so that we can properly
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: run schools. In twenty twenty.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Three, Michelle, do you expect that there is still going
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to be some teachers though that will move to other states?
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Where the pay is better.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, So I think there's two parts of that question.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: First of all, with the finding of this new agreement,
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: pay in the Northern Territory will go back to being
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: marginally more than around the country, at least for now.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: We should go back to being the highest paid in
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: the country, which will help with recruiting teachers to the territory. However,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: it is December, it is the middle of December. A
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: lot of teachers have already made their plans for twenty
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: twenty three, whether that's teachers who are leaving their territory
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: or teachers in our the states who have taken other
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: jobs already. So it will be really interesting to see
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: the like how that fact plays into this and where
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: we end up, you know, the start of twenty twenty three.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: So do you reckon that parents can sort of take
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: confidence knowing that classrooms are going to be adequately starved
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: next year or do you think that we're going to
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: see some gaps?
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, another good question. I think that we're going to
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: have to wait and see, really and when it comes
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: down to classrooms being adequately starff this is only one factor.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: I think that classrooms in the Northern territory haven't been
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: adequately start for years. Education in the Northern Territory hasn't
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: been well funded for years. I think we've talked a
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: little about that in the class, and this is another
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: hurdle that we're going through. We've been through a pandemic,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: We've been through, you know, multiple hurdles have been through,
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: these costs of living things. Is teach a shortage? This
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: is something else that we're going to have to figure out.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: And I think the teachers that are there and are
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: in the terror are throwing themselves in so hard to
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: make sure that kids don't miss out and that those
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: parents kids really get what they need, the best education possible.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Well, Michelle Is I really appreciate all your time throughout
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the year, and please keep in contact with us over
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the Christmas break let us know how things are tracking
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: for early next year, particularly once school is due to resume.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: I'll be really interested to see you know whether we've
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: got a number of vacancies or how it's all looking.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: But thanks so much for your time. Hope you have
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: a great Christmas.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Thank you heaps, Katie, and Merry Christmas to your listening.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Thank you