Revolving door of agreement negotiations

The IEU’s early childhood team are constantly working on enterprise agreements, mostly for small community based organisations with only one or two teachers.

We are currently negotiating with Big Fat Smile, which runs a number of not for profit services in the Illawarra and western Sydney. They have offered a 2.5% increase from their last agreement and maintenance of current conditions of employment.

All Uniting Care early childhood services are now under the direct management of Uniting Care. In the transition process a number of errors were made calculating teachers’ and directors’ entitlements, including the calculation of annual leave, incremental progression and the application of the formula for determining the amount of non term time to be paid at the end of the year. We have met with Uniting Care and they have agreed to rectify all of the issues identified. Uniting Care members experiencing difficulties with the transfer of their entitlements should contact Lisa James lisa.james@ieu.asn.au

KU agreement

We are still waiting for the final draft of the new KU agreement. The initial salary increase of 2.5% has been paid to teachers, however the other improvements to conditions, such as programing time, have yet to be implemented.

ECS conference

IEU’s annual early childhood services conference will be held on the 7 September. It is themed More than Meets the Eye and it explores the changing nature of the early childhood profession and the impact on teachers. The conference will also look at the changing role of the director and how to best manage an evolving leadership role.

South Coast Women’s Forum

This year’s South Coast Women’s Forum was held at Jamberoo Community Preschool, Kiama. The IEU would like to thank 31 year IEU member Maria Witcher for allowing us to hold the forum at her centre.

Early Childhood Educator Wellbeing Project

We have been asked to participate in a stakeholders’ forum for this research project. The research will look at educators’ psychological wellbeing and the organisational context in which they work. https://www.facebook.com/EarlyChildhoodEducatorWellbeingProjectECEWP/

NESA accreditation

Teachers working in services which are considered ‘out of scope’ of the Education and Care National Regulations, like mobile and early intervention services, are experiencing difficulties in maintaining their proficient status with NESA. We have approached NESA and NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes to change the Teacher Accreditation Act to ensure they can be accredited in the same manner as other early childhood teachers.