| Seamus Bradley May 18, 2008 http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/teacher-wage-rise-slap-in-face/2008/05/17/1210765260640.html VICTORIAN public school teachers who were told they would become "the best paid in Australia" in a new pay deal are vowing to reject the offer after discovering that many would still get $13,000 less than their NSW counterparts. Details of the pay deal, initially greeted as a triumph for teachers, were published on the website of the Australian Education Union's Victorian branch late Wednesday, sparking new fears that mid-career teachers would leave the profession and setting off a campaign to oust union president Mary Bluett. A comparison shows that only graduate teachers and teachers at the top of the scale would be better off in Victoria. University High School teacher Naomi Schwartz will be one of hundreds of Victorian teachers who lose out next year compared with teachers in NSW. Now in her eighth year of teaching, Ms Schwartz is head of a school department, holds two degrees and next year her pay is set to rise to $62,311. A NSW teacher with similar experience would earn $75,352. "I feel it's a slap in the face," she said. In all the public meetings, the AEU had stressed that the union was fighting for pay parity with NSW teachers. Ms Schwartz said many colleagues felt very betrayed by their union and the State Government. University High School teacher Paul Beekman said that if the AEU was proud of the deal, details would be on the union website's front page. Instead teachers searching for the information "had to wade through pages of text to find a 'dead link' that wasn't clickable. When you finally cut and paste it into a browser you ended up with a PDF document. If they're so proud of this agreement, why are they hiding it?" he said. Mr Beekman said the new pay deal would cause division in teacher ranks. "People in the middle are languishing for a decade or more with no incentive to stay," he said. AEU Victorian president Mary Bluett said she was aware of a campaign to oust her and said there was also a campaign against the agreement. But Victorian teachers at the bottom and top of the scale were winners, she said. Before the current deal, Victorian teachers trailed their NSW counterparts by $114,000 in total earnings by the time they got to the top pay level, she said. The current deal cuts that disparity to just $29,000. Ms Bluett said the deal, which teachers will vote on from June 2, was the best that could be achieved. Future teachers would spend only 11 years getting to the top pay rate, down from 12 years. She said the public would not support a new pay claim by teachers. Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said: "Victoria's teachers are able to earn up to $75,000, making them the best-paid teachers in the country." How teacher pay compares
* Does not include $1000 one-off bonus SOURCES: AEU VICTORIAN BRANCH, NSW EDUCATION DEPARTMENT |
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Teacher wage rise 'slap in face'
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment