AEU agreement - school ballots to be held this week

From: AEUVB Registry [mailto:Melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au] Sent: Monday, 23 June 2008 4:42 PMSubject: AEU agreement - school ballots to be held this week
Dear Member

The AEU has been made aware of a vote NO email circulating via Edumail from a Matt Doric, Anthony or Joseph Triopodi purporting to be a statement from the Socialist Equality Party. Neither of these people are AEU members. As a result we have had requests from members to clarify the AEU’s position in relation to the ballot.

The final stretch — schools ballots to be held this week. This is the week that every school should hold a secret ballot to ratify the new Schools Agreement – with every teacher and principal class officer entitled to vote.

AEU council has backed the schools agreement; AEU delegate meetings have backed the schools agreement; now it is time for the entire teaching and principal class workforce to have their say as workplace ballots are held this week.

Secret ballots of all staff covered by the agreement will be conducted in every school and workplace. They will be conducted jointly by the school's principal and AEU Rep — if your school has not yet fixed a date, call the AEU NOW on (03) 9417 2822. All ballots must be completed by 5pm on Friday June 27.

This is a vital last vote — despite the overwhelming endorsement of the agreement by AEU members at the delegates ratification meetings earlier this month (where 89% backed the agreement), it will fall if it is not accepted by a majority of all staff covered by it. Arrangements should also be made for those members of staff who are not in school on the day of the meeting and cannot attend.

You can find out more about the ratification ballot process in this AEU agreement bulletin, http://www.aeuvic.asn.au/news/1213849947_15688.html
For more on the agreement and what it contains, go to the campaign website http://www.aeuvic.asn.au/campaigns/schools_agreement_08/ .

The key points of the agreement are:

• Top of the scale classroom teachers would now earn up to $75,500 a year — the highest pay in Australia

• The starting salary at $51,184 is also the nation's best

• Schools must now justify in writing every fixed-term contract they create — and it will be quicker and easier to be rolled over to an ongoing position

• Contract teachers are guaranteed holiday pay

• Some 16,000 teachers get a $10,000 pay rise overnight

• Immediate pay rise of 4.9% (with one-off payments for most teachers of $1000, $1,500 for most leading teachers 2 and $2000 for principals) followed by annual pay rises of 2.71% in January 2009, 2010, 2011 - higher than current forecasts for CPI

• Guaranteed pay rise at the end of the agreement

• No trade offs on holiday or pupil free days.

VOTE YES.

Yours sincerely

MARY BLUETT
Branch President