‘Two steps backwards’: NSW teachers snap back against pay deal

Furious teachers have amped up their fight for better pay, lashing the proposed four-year pay deal as “one step forward, two steps backwards”.

Pay negotiations between NSW teachers and the government have continued to sour, with the union body saying the four-year pay deal would effectively enforce a “wage cap” after an initial boost in the first year.

Protracted negotiations came to a public blow earlier this month when the NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) president Angelo Gavrielatos accused the government of an “act of betrayal,” claiming it backed out of a “handshake and a hug” agreement.

On Monday, NSW Premier Chris Minns tried to allay concerns saying proposed “front-loaded” deal needed perspective. This includes a first year boost between 8 to 12 per cent, before three annual boosts of 2.5 per cent.

The initial boost would also ensure beginning teachers would become the “highest-paid in the country”.

While no agreement had been confirmed, Mr Minns said it was “always known that (from) the government’s perspective, we wanted to have an immediate increase in teacher salaries, and then in the years after that, we’d maintain it, in relation to inflation.

On Monday, Premier Chris Minns said the government had always insisted on a front-loaded deal with successive small annual bumps. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

However, NSWTF acting president Henry Rajendra savaged the offer as taking “one step forward, two steps backwards,” and said it would inflame staffing shortages.

The renewed backlash comes as the union’s State Council will meet on September 9 to decide what escalated action could involve.

In the past two years, the NSWTF has enacted three daylong strikes in response to a lack of action towards teacher pay and unsustainable work loads.

“We are grappling with 12 years of neglect under the previous government. That doesn’t get fixed by lifting wages for one year only to be followed by a 2.5 per cent wage cap that will pave the way for other jurisdictions to leapfrog NSW,” Mr Rajendra said on Tuesday.

“This problem has been brewing for years and demands a robust commitment.”

Western Sydney teachers rallied outside Prue Car's electoral office campaigning against the pay deal last Wednesday. Picture: Supplied/ Jason Gerke

He said urgent action was needed with teachers buckling under increased workloads, with staff leaving the industry due to burnout.

“Workloads of NSW teachers keep increasing and intensifying as the teacher shortage gets worse. Yet salaries have fallen in comparison with other professions and states,” said Mr Rajendra.

“The Minns Government has no time to waste. It must revive and honour the agreement it had to tackle the teacher shortage, by paying teachers what they are worth and then sustaining that commitment.”

On Tuesday morning, NSW Education and Early Learning Minister Prue Car said the government would continue with “good faith negotiations,” and said “what happens after that first year is up for discussion”.

“We are discussing that, we’re having positive discussions, and I’m very hopeful that we will come,” she said.

“We want to see them having nation leading salaries, because we need to desperately do something about retention of teachers.

“If we don’t get to the bottom of this via the salary issue, then we are just not going to break the back of the teacher shortage”.