Teachers & Educators Collective Bargaining
Update # 11   (5 October 2007)

Commissioner Acknowledges AEU-NT Rejection of Offer

On Thursday 4 October, the AEU-NT full-time officers formally conveyed to the Public Service Commissioner, Ken Simpson, and his delegates the universal rejection of the Government’s offer by AEU-NT members.

The AEU-NT made the following points:

·       10% increase in salary over three years falls short of the current CPI rate and fails to address massive productivity increases Territory teachers have had to face over the last 18 months with the introduction of middle years and the move toward electronic assessment and reporting processes such as Ce-Tool.

·       The increase in Professional Isolation Allowance is virtually negated by the abolition of freight reimbursement, and that many of our remote members would be worse off financially if they agreed to this element of the offer.

·       The introduction of mandatory school development days during stand-down periods is an enormous erosion of school-based teaching conditions in the Territory. Firstly, it would mean that teachers could no longer access a six-week block of recreation leave (like almost every other public servant in the Territory). Secondary, it would be a further erosion of allowances for a group of employees who are unable to access the same kind of flexible work arrangements (such as overtime, time-in-lieu, rostered days off) as other public employees. Finally, the NT is having enough trouble recruiting and retaining teachers as it is without further restriction on leave allowances and entitlements.

·       The ERT salary offer is a cut to the current ERT rate and fails to address the current ERT shortage in the Territory.

·       The Extended Leave Package and the flexible working arrangements for office-based educators are both welcome improvements to teachers and educators’ conditions in the Territory.

The Commissioner’s response to the AEU-NT’s rejection of the offer included the following points:

·       Teachers and Educators were given a 4.9% increase in salary in January of this year. With a 4% initial increase in salary after the commencement of the new agreement, it would mean teachers would get an 8.9% increase in salary within the 2007 calendar year. Furthermore, NT Treasury’s CPI projections for 2008-9 predict that the CPI will fall below 3%.

·       The cost of pupil-free start-up days at the beginning of semesters in terms of the hours students could be at school and learning has become too high. The school development days are necessary for school readiness at the beginning of semesters. They’re not designated for formal PD sessions. They claim these days acknowledge that many teachers already go into schools voluntarily during school-breaks to work and they are merely formalising them as duty

·       ERT salary shouldn’t be too high because it acts as a disincentive for teachers in taking up longer term contracts.

·       The AEU-NT’s remarks on Professional Isolation Allowance were noted.

Claims Not Addressed in the Offer

The AEU-NT put on the agenda for the next meeting that it would like to revisit major aspects of our log of claims not referred to in the offer – ie claims surrounding class sizes, staffing formula, workloads and other issues. These will be presented at next week’s meeting.