By Lucy Carroll and Max Maddison
The Minns government has been accused by the NSW Teachers Federation of an “act of betrayal” following a breakdown in pay negotiations after a one-year agreement was withdrawn this week.
Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos said pay negotiations with the government had begun in “good faith” at the end of April, with an agreement reached on May 31 at a meeting with the NSW Education Minister Prue Car and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey.
Teachers strike for higher pay and better conditions in 2022.Credit: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Gavrielatos said starting salaries for graduate teachers would have been lifted by 12 per cent under the one-year agreement struck in May, while top-paid teacher salaries would rise by 8 per cent from October.
On Wednesday, the government offered a four-year agreement that would include a 2.5 per cent cap from the second year.
“The teachers of this state have been gutted by what can only be described as an act of betrayal. Never before has a government walked away from a deal in the way that we are experiencing now. Our message is very simple; honour the agreement,” Gavrielatos said.
Angelo Gavrielatos says the breakdown in negotiations is set to trigger “a program of political action”.Credit: Rhett Wyman
The breakdown in negotiations is set to trigger “a program of political action”, he said, warning industrial action could escalate further in September if the stalemate continued.
The stoush is the latest headache for the new state government on public sector pay. It comes after rolling industrial action by the Health Services Union, with general secretary Gerard Hayes accusing the Minns government of making an “inferior” offer compared with the previous Coalition government.
Car declined to say whether she believed a prior deal had been struck with the Teachers Federation, only saying “we’re in agreement with [the] federation about many things” and conversations were ongoing.
“We are clearly still negotiating. In fact, late into last night, both the Teachers Federation and the government were swapping offers,” she said.
Identifying and agreeing on productivity improvements was a key sticking point, Car suggested, saying finding those gains would be a “significant achievement of this government”.
Gavrielatos said the agreement had spelt out significant changes to teachers’ salary structure, that would have made “teacher salaries in NSW competitive ... such that the salaries of beginning and top-of-the-scale teachers would have been the highest in the country”.
Salaries for teachers in NSW start at $75,791 for graduates, and can climb to $113, 042 at the top of the scale.
Teachers who go through a complex process to become a highly accomplished or lead teacher can earn about $120,000. Pay rises to $126,528 if they transition to management, or take on more responsibilities as an assistant principal.
Gavrielatos said the deal had included lifting starting teacher salaries to $85,000, and top-paid teachers to $122,100.
Education Minister Prue Car says the government is “clearly still negotiating” with the teachers union.Credit: James Brickwood
“In opposition, the Minns government committed to immediately commence negotiations to address workload and uncompetitive salaries. This is contributing to the exodus of teachers, which was resulting in an inability to recruit teachers and retain teachers,” he said.
The government has offered public sector workers a one-year 4 per cent pay rise plus 0.5 per cent superannuation, at a cost of $618 million.
Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Mitchell accused the government of overpromising on pay increases for teachers.
“This is the million-dollar question here because, before the election, the government said that they could deliver pay rises with productivity gains, and at a zero cost of the budget,” she said.
“We now know that that’s not true.”
Earlier this year the Herald revealed the Minns government would dump the previous Coalition’s rewarding excellence program, led by education academic John Hattie, which planned to give a selection of top teachers salaries of up to $150,000.
Public school principals have previously flagged their concerns that private schools are scooping up graduates with salaries of $10,000 to $50,000 above what state schools offer.
The latest impasse in negotiations comes after tens of thousands of NSW public and Catholic school teachers walked off the job over pay and conditions in a series of historic strikes last year.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.