Teachers reject State Government’s 11th-hour pay offer as stop-work action looms

UPDATED: Stop-work action by public school teachers will go ahead after their union’s state executive rejected a revised pay offer. SEE THE LIST OF SCHOOL CLOSURES

UPDATED: STOP work action by public school teachers will go ahead after the Australian Education Union’s state executive rejected a revised Government pay offer.

Schools in the state’s North-West will be affected by the stop-work campaign on Tuesday and those in the state’s North and South on Wednesday.

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AEU state president Helen Richardson said teachers had rejected an offer which would have left them the lowest-paid in the nation.

“The offer which has been rejected by elected teacher members would see Tasmanian teachers the lowest paid in the country over the life of the agreement and lacked any new measures to address workloads or in-class support,” she said.

“Teachers are extremely frustrated that the Government has sought to distract from education issues and is instead fixated on playing politics at every turn and lecturing teachers, support staff and principals about values and how to run their own union.”

SEE THE LIST OF SCHOOL CLOSURES

The union’s state executive met on Monday to consider an improved pay offer of a 7 per cent pay increase over three years — still short of the 9 per cent they are seeking.

“The AEU gave the Government a counter offer, which contained a raft of detailed solutions developed by educators themselves, two weeks ago and Will Hodgman could have fixed all these issues then,” Ms Richardson said.

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Australian Education Union state president Helen Richardson.

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff urged the union to hold a secret ballot of members over the Government’s offer.

“Make sure that all of your members get a say on the offer that’s on the table,” he said.

“I know full well that when it comes to reducing the contact hours from 22 to 20 and primary schools when it comes to an extra 95 specialist teachers for example in our classrooms when it comes to 7 per cent pay increase over three years, I know particularly when it comes to the workload issues that many teachers would embrace that opportunity.”

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

And he questioned the wisdom of a union April’s Fools Day tweet which suggested the offer had been accepted if teachers could swap with MPs.

“The message to the Australian Education Union and the union bosses is look, stop playing games, stop treating the students and school and parent disruption as a joke as it appeared they did today in terms of their so-called April Fool’s joke.

“That fell flat because parents do not see school closures as a joke. The State Government takes these matters very very seriously.”

Stopwork meetings will be held around the state on Tuesday and Wednesday for all public sector unions involved in the current enterprise bargaining impasse.

EARLIER: PUBLIC school teachers are expected to reject a revised State Government pay offer this afternoon, clearing the way for industrial action over the next two days — despite an April Fool’s Day tweet to the contrary.

The executive members of the Australian Education Union’s Tasmanian branch will meet at 4pm today.

They will vote whether to accept a seven per cent pay increase over three years.

If the deal is rejected, stop-work meetings around the state will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But the union today tweeted that teachers would cancel their industrial action after accepting an offer to swap roles with MPs.

“We couldn’t be happier,” an AEU Tasmania spokesperson said in the tongue-in-cheek tweet.

“Not only will this offer result in substantial pay increases and massively reduced workloads, it will ensure education policy in Tasmania will be world leading.

“With just 17 sitting weeks in the year, educators are looking forward to finally having planning and preparation time they need in their new roles.”

#BREAKING - Teachers welcome innovative offer, cancel strike to swap roles.

“We couldn’t be happier. Not only will this offer result in substantial pay increases and massively reduced workloads, it will ensure education policy in Tasmania will be world-leading.” #politas pic.twitter.com/Wo1qatNVSy

— AEU Tasmania (@aeutasmania) March 31, 2019

On a more serious note, schools in the state’s North-West will be affected by the stop-work campaign on Tuesday and those in the state’s North and South on Wednesday. Some schools will not be affected.

A full list of schools at the times they may close is available on the Education Department’s website.

Owen Tubb, a parent of a student at Bellerive PrimarySchool, discusses the planned school closures. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

EARLIER: PARENTS will be given fewer than 24 hours’ notice to prepare for possible school closures tomorrow, as teacher’s union executives today meet to decide whether to accept the State Government’s latest pay offer.

On the eve of expected industrial action, teachers will today decide whether to walk off the job in protest or accept the Government’s most recent pay offer of 7 per cent over three years. The industrial action will see 136 public schools either start late or close early tomorrow or Wednesday.

The meeting between union executives today will take place at 4pm and a decision will be made shortly after on whether teachers progress with stop-work meetings or accept the pay deal.

It will leave many parents with less than 24 hours to prepare plans to get their children school ready or organise alternative arrangements.

The Hodgman Governments ‘new offer’ is just a 0.25% increase over 3 years on the last offer, with no additional measures to address excessive workload and no further in-class support for kids who need it.
Educators gave them solutions but the government isn’t listening. #politas pic.twitter.com/eYiFSYV0ja

— AEU Tasmania (@aeutasmania) 31 March 2019

Australian Education Union Tasmania executive member David Genford said there was a growing sense that the Government’s offer would be rejected.

“We’re very disappointed with the offer and I would be very surprised if it wasn’t rejected,” he said.

AEU branch manager Roz Madsen said it was possible education disruptions through stop-work meetings would continue until the State Government delivered a satisfactory wage deal.

“This could be fixed now. But the genuine will to fix this just isn’t being met by the Government.

“They’re not moving on the issues that matter to the educators,” she said.

Laura Bain, a teacher at Bellerive Primary School, speaks at a press conference at the Australian Education Union headquarters. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

Bellerive Primary School Teacher Laura Bain acknowledged the disruption but said it was necessary to better students’ long-term education.

“I do see these stop-work meetings as disruptive to students’ education but only in the short-term,” she said.

“In the long-term this is what teachers have to do. At the end of the day we’re doing it for the kids.”

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Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff yesterday said a number of teachers told the Government they felt intimidated by the AEU into voting against the Government’s previous wage offer.

“We have been advised that not only were members strongly urged to reject the offer, the detail included in the offer wasn’t explained clearly enough, and the vote that followed was taken as a show of hands with the members’ votes photographed, making it very uncomfortable for anyone to vote against the union position,” he said.

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