By Lucy Carroll and Christopher Harris
The state’s teachers union and the NSW Labor government have ended months of deadlock over wage negotiations, reaching a historic pay deal which is set to give new graduates a $10,000 pay rise.
To fund the once-in-a-generation salary increases, NSW Education Minister Prue Car flagged she would work with state schools to find budget savings, but provided no detail of the potential cuts.
NSW Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car is confident a new pay agreement will be reached with the NSW Teachers Federation.Credit: Janie Barrett
A proposed agreement between the NSW Teachers Federation and the government will scrap the previous offer that included a 2.5 per cent cap from the second year, and hike graduate teachers’ salaries from $75,791 to $85,000.
“We will be working with the federation on where we can streamline, where we can cut red tape, where we can make sure every single cent we are spending on education in this government goes towards the education of our children,” Car said.
“It is a priority that any savings we make in the Department of Education don’t impact what actually happens in schools between the teacher and his or her classroom.”
The new pay offer follows weeks of escalating tension between the union and the government, with the NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos accusing Labor of an “act of betrayal” after negotiations collapsed last month.
The state’s public school teachers walked off the job multiple times last year.Credit: Brook Mitchell
Under a four-year agreement with teachers, the starting salary for a NSW public teacher would rise from $75,791 to $85,000, and the salary for a top-of-the-scale teacher would increase from $113,042 to $122,100. The pay scale structure has been overhauled as part of the deal, with teachers in middle salary bands set to receive increases of between 4 and 8 per cent.
It is the latest pay deal the state government has struck after winning government in March on a platform of promising to abolish the former Coalition’s controversial public sector wages cap.
Members of the nurses union narrowly agreed to a one-year 4 per cent pay increase last month, while the Public Service Association, which represents a range of workers from prison officers, park rangers and Rural Fire Service employees, also accepted a 4 per cent wage deal in July.
NSW Teachers Federation acting president Henry Rajendra said the previous agreement struck with the government has been “resurrected and honoured”, marking a “historic advance” for the state’s teachers.
“The teacher shortage is a crisis that brewed for 12 long years, which can only be tackled by paying teachers what they are worth.”
Under the government’s offer, graduate and top-end teachers in NSW would leapfrog Queensland and the ACT to become the highest-paid in the country. However, from June next year, graduate teachers in the ACT are set to have their pay increase to $86,253.
Starting salaries for NSW public school counsellors will rise by 25 per cent to $95,000. Senior Psychologists Education will have their salaries adjusted to the same level as senior school leaders.
The salary increases will take effect from the start of term 4 in October. To give teachers the salary bump in just over a month’s time, the industrial relations award will be extended until October 8, 2024 and a three-year award will be negotiated when the varied award expires.
Exactly how much teachers get paid under those subsequent years will likely be dependent on the government’s wages policy, which will become clearer once the budget is handed down next month.
When asked on Tuesday how much the deal was going to cost taxpayers, Car said: “All that will be clear in the budget in a few weeks time.”
To reach a deal, the offer must be formally accepted this Saturday at a Teachers Federation state council meeting, where the union will recommend to its members that the agreement be endorsed.
Public school teacher and union representative Rosina Grieves said the new agreement would result in a $9000 pay increase, and meant she would stay in the classroom for longer.
Teachers Penelope Coleman and Rosina Grieves in Sydney.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“Finally, we’re getting some recognition for the hard work we’ve done and the value we have in the workforce and the community,” she said. “It will make me want to stay on, as I am getting to the end of my career, it will make it a little easier to live and want to continue on.”
She said teacher shortages had been acute where she lives in Ballina.
Gavrielatos, the union’s outgoing boss, last month insisted the parties had reached a deal in May. That deal was sealed with a “handshake and a hug” for a one-year agreement of pay rises between 8 and 12 per cent that would have made NSW teachers among the highest paid in the country.
However, the government later insisted on a four-year agreement that would limit rises to 2.5 per cent for the remaining three years of the deal.
Head of Unions NSW Mark Morey compared it to the former Coalition government’s controversial wages cap, and warned Labor risked losing public sector workers who helped elect the party in March.
Other public sector workers, including paramedics, have not yet reached a pay deal with the government.
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correction
An earlier version of this story said school psychologists will have their salaries adjusted to the same level as senior school leaders. This has been updated to say Senior Psychologists Education.