Education Minister Blair Boyer ‘relieved’ but backlash seen as union approves teacher pay offer

The Education Minister was all smiles at a school visit after the teachers’ union recommended members accept the government’s latest pay offer. However, not everyone was happy.

After months of negotiations, union endorsement of the latest teacher pay offer has come as a relief to the SA government with strike action and school closures set to come to an end.

However, not all are happy with some teachers claiming the union had “thrown in the towel”.

The new pay offer will see a 4 per cent pay rise for this year, back dated to May, followed by a 3 per cent rise in each of the next three years.

The workforce will also be afforded an extra one hour of non-instructional time, starting from next year while the Country Incentives Zone Allowance will be extended beyond five years for teachers.

Education Minister Blair Boyer with Member for Gibson Sarah Andrews at the Darlington Primary School on December 5. Picture: Dylan Hogarth

Education Minister Blair Boyer said he was relieved negotiations had reached a resolution with a deal that aims to pay educators more, decrease workloads and attract and retain more teachers.

Visiting Darlington Primary School on Tuesday morning, Mr Boyer said he slept easier after Australian Education Union SA branch president Andrew Gohl would ballot members with a recommendation to accept the “improved” bargaining agreement.

Mr Gohl said the offer made several improvements to “key measures of our platform and represents the largest-ever investment in a South Australian education Enterprise Agreement”.

“The offer provides a salary increase of 13 per cent over the life of the Enterprise Agreement, which will take SA educators from Australia’s lowest paid to a level closer to the national midpoint,” Mr Gohl said.

Australian Education Union president Andrew Gohl. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Emma Brasier

Mr Boyer said he was pleased a deal was reached before the end of year, ending any further strike action during end of year celebrations or into the new year.

“We are very hopeful of a positive outcome from that ballot … my understanding is that in years gone past whenever an AEU executive has taken an endorsed or positive position on offer from the government and put it to its members, it has passed,” Mr Boyer said.

He said a formal ballot of the broader workforce would occur in the new year.

Mr Boyer said there was never any doubt teachers needed to be paid more and negotiations centred around what was possible.

“We do need to pay our teachers more in no small part because of the offer made by a former Liberal government in 2019 which had a one per cent pay rise in the first year,” he said.

“Our teachers have found themselves on the bottom of the league table in terms of how much they are paid.”

However, in the union’s announcement the branch recommends members accept the offer was met with backlash online.

Union members called the announcement “demoralising” and said the AEU had “thrown in the towel” saying a 13 per cent increase over four years was not enough.

“The fact that you believe we should accept this is crazy,” one social media user posted.

“Members and teachers are done with being abused, overworked, underpaid, sh** on by the media and now you think this acceptable.”