Victorian Teachers Discussion

VOTE NO!

Attend ratification meetings

Now that the AEU Council has voted to recommend the proposed agreement for ratification, you have the opportunity to have your say at the ratification meetings. Many members have said that they will leave the union as a result of this agreement, but the better option is to stay in, become active and build the union. It is the strength and resolve of members that determines the strength of the union and it is time for a leadership that reflects this. If this divisive agreement is voted down, this will force the leadership to go back and negotiate a better deal that includes genuine pay rises for all and improve everyone’s conditions. Parents and the community will continue to support us fighting for the conditions to put the students first which is what education should be about.

Why are we the lowest paid teachers in Australia?

The AEU leadership has exposed itself with this pathetic agreement. They have proposed, and we have accepted under pressure, two similar poor agreements since the Bracks Government was elected. It is these poorly negotiated agreements which have left Victorian teachers the lowest paid in Australia. This time we have the support of 85% of the public and a fantastic campaign – only to be offered this pathetic agreement by our leadership. No wonder Brumby kissed Mary Bluett!

Teachers Alliance www.teachers-alliance.org

No change to conditions – not good enough Two key campaign demands were encapsulated in our campaign slogans of Reduced class sizes, and Overworked and Underpaid - Enough is Enough. The proposed agreement makes no progress towards achieving the goals of 20 x 50 minute periods in the secondary sector and for 21 and ¾ hours of teaching for primary teachers. There will be no reduction to class sizes. All three agreements negotiated by this leadership since the demise of Kennett government have failed to undo the damage done to our conditions during the 1990’s. This agreement if carried will entrench the burdensome workload until at least the end of 2011. Conditions must be uniformly applied across the education sector and not left to workplace consultation procedures. Don’t trade off better working conditions for a pay rise Do not endorse this agreement. Vote no.

Pupil Free Days. It is not a win that we have no loss to our holidays and no loss to the number of pupil free days. In our log we asked to increase the number of days, as the government constantly wants us to implement new initiatives, such as the new Blueprint! By having 3 of the 4 days to the beginning of the year, schools are being denied the flexibility to organise the PD that they need. It is very difficult to plan and prepare for Curriculum days at the beginning of the year. Also, the proposed arrangement means that Secondary schools now lose 1 report writing day, which worsens their conditions and means that Primary schools have no hope of achieving report writing days. Contracts All the talk about major gains for contract teachers is just hype. It is true that there are some improvements in the lot of contract teachers – any teacher on a 1 year contract will automatically be paid over the January holidays and it is now much easier to qualify to be rolled over to an ongoing position. But what the agreement does not deliver is any increase in the number of ongoing positions. One of the supposed gains is that the government will monitor contracts. Watching contracts will not reduce them – the government and the AEU have been watching them for the last 8 years and they are still at higher levels than under Kennett.

The facts about the pay deal!

This agreement is divisive, offering vastly different outcomes to different groups. In fact Mary Bluett has acknowledged that this agreement, as well as the 2 past agreements, has delivered differential outcomes to different groups. A union should be about improving everyone’s pay and conditions, not 24% for some and 13% for others.

If this agreement is so good, why are the facts being misrepresented? Four years, not three While the agreement may be for 3 years the pay increases have to cover a 4 year period. We have not had a pay increase for one and a half years. We were due one in Jan 2008 and we cannot get another pay rise until Jan 2012 Jan 2012 take away Jan 2008 = 4 years Including increments! Including the increments in the overall pay increases makes the increase look much bigger, but if you were going to get an increment in the current agreement, then you will get an increment in this agreement. The table below clearly shows that the same result would have been achieved if we had accepted the original offer of 3.25% each year for 4 years. The difference of $9 to $11 p.a. in the final salary is because the first pay increase is larger.	But what about all the teachers in the middle, Mary?
	“..teachers at the bottom and top of the scale are winners” Mary Bluett The Age 18/5/08

Bonus or backpay?

The $1000, $1500 or $2000 is not part of your substantive salary and does not carry over to the following years. This is backpay for the 4 months of this year that we got no increase. For most classifications it is less than what the back pay should be and several classifications will not even get the extra payment.

Parity, but not for all!

Parity with NSW is only for teachers in the top and the bottom classifications. It will now take 11 years for a Victorian teacher to get to the top while it only takes NSW teachers 8 years. Under the proposed deal, from the second year, NSW teachers are ahead and continue to be significantly ahead until the thirteenth year when we finally catch up.

So the proposed agreement delivers neither

parity with NSW nor 10% p.a.!

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Did you go on strike for $8 a year?

Your pay if we accepted the government’s original offer of 3.25% per year (13% over 4 years).

Current classif-ication	Current Salary	May-08 3.25%	Jan-09 3.25%	May 1 2009	Jan-10 3.25%	May 1 2010	Jan-11 3.25%	May 1 2011	What the Proposed Agreement delivers May 1-2011	Difference per year in final salary
LT 2-3	78,675	81,232	81,232	83,872	83,872	86,598	86,598	89,412	89,423	$11
LT 2-2	76,494	78,980	78,980	81,547	81,547	86,598	84,197	89,412	89,423	$11
LT 2-1	74,375	76,792	76,792	79,288	79,288	81,865	81,865	89,412	89,423	$11
A5	59,401	61,332	63,325	65,604	67,736	69,836	72,106	74,341	74,351	$10
A4	57,755	59,632	61,570	63,325	65,383	67,736	69,938	72,106	72,115	$9
A3	56,154	57,979	59,863	61,570	63,571	65,383	67,508	69,938	69,946	$8
A2	54,598	56,372	58,205	59,863	61,809	63,571	65,637	67,508	67,516	$8
A1	53,085	54,810	56,592	58,205	60,096	61,809	63,818	65,637	65,645	$8
G4	50,184	51,815	53,499	56,592	58,431	60,096	62,049	63,818	63,826	$8
G3	48,793	50,379	52,016	53,499	55,238	58,431	60,330	62,049	62,057	$8

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Please copy this leaflet and distribute it to members at your school and other schools.

If you want an email copy of this leaflet to email to your colleagues, contact us at teachersalliance@hotmail.com

For more information go to our website www.teachers-alliance.org