Teachers to strike on Thursday as union rejects latest pay offer

The education union says teachers will strike on Thursday, leaving thousands of families rushing to find urgent childcare, as it rejects the latest pay offer.

The Australian Education Union has rejected the government’s latest pay offer and will take strike action on Thursday.

The government offered a compounding 4 per cent increase over the first year, followed by 3 per cent in the second year and 2.5 per cent in year three.

However, the union said the offer was “the same as, if not worse, than the last” and that it was “disappointing to see such contempt”.

It comes as the Advertiser can reveal AEU president Andrew Gohl last year earned an $8000 pay rise, taking his salary to more than $208,000.

Documents lodged with Fair Work Australia show the 4.2 per cent rise from 2021, when previous president Lara Golding earned $200,098 in “relevant remuneration”.

Mr Gohl was last year the second-highest paid union official after former branch secretary Leah York, who was paid $257,947 in “relevant remuneration”.

But Ms York’s pay packet included $40,556 in board sitting fees, of which $13,000 was handed back to the union.

Australian Education Union president Andrew Gohl speaks to striking teachers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Kelly Barnes

She resigned from the role earlier this year following allegations she had shoplifted from a small business at Mount Gambier.

At the time, she said she believed she had paid for the handbag and blamed the “miscommunication” on an urgent need to use the toilet. No charges have been laid.

Around the same time, it was also revealed Ms York and Mr Gohl were in a relationship.

Other high-paid officials last year included branch vice-presidents Jan Murphy, paid $180,283, and Matthew Cherry, paid $160,876.

On November 2, the Australian Education Union’s SA branch returned an 83 per cent vote in favour of industrial action if the state government failed to make an acceptable offer by the Monday deadline.

The government previously offered 3 per cent annual wage rises, plus two $1500 payments and a suite of other measures.

The numbers still fall short of the Australian Education Union’s demand of between 5.5 and 8.6 per cent per year until 2026, which Education Minister Blair Boyer said was “impossible from day one”.

Thousands of educators walked off the job on September 1, forcing the closure of 167 public schools and preschools.

A further 152 schools had to modify classes, while 608 sites stayed open as normal or had a planned pupil free day.

Education Minister Blair Boyer. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Morgan Sette

Mr Boyer said the additional one hour of administration and lesson planning time demanded by teachers is in the cards, but will take at least seven years to phase in.

“To do that, of course, there needs to be a teacher to backfill the teacher in the classroom who’s going to use their non-instructional time,” Mr Boyer said.

“The Premier and I have made clear from the outset we’re not going to reduce the amount of class time for South Australian kids.”

As part of the offer, it will be easier for educators to apply for funding for disabled students under the Inclusive Education Support Plan.

Teachers on strike at Parliament House in September. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The formal application process will be removed for the first three teaching bands, which comprise approximately 65 per cent of all applications under the program, according to Mr Boyer.

“We’ve been told by the union about the workload that comes with the existing process … applications can take as long as 20 hours, so we are doing away with that,” he said.

Permanency measures have also been added for casual and relief teachers to plug demand across the state, as well as the “right to disconnect” for non-urgent communications.

AEU SA branch president Andrew Gohl said the government’s two previous offers fell well below the inflation indexation figure of 8.64 per cent.

“Anyone reasonable would agree that 3 per cent is insufficient in the current economic climate when educators haven’t had a pay rise since May last year,” Mr Gohl said.

“While salary is important, we’ve said consistently that this is not just about pay, but also securing a set of working conditions that ensure our educators can provide the very best for their students.

“This is about priorities, and when the Premier can find $2bn for submarines and $450m for a university merger, we should not accept that public education and our students aren’t worth the same investment.”