Unite for change

IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews addresses the media about the IEU’s pay rise claim for preschool teachers outside the Fair Work Commission in Sydney on Friday 5 July, surrounded by IEU members.

IEU files revolutionary pay rise claim for preschool teachers

Preschool teacher and IEU Vice President Early Childhood Services Michelle Thompson talks to the media.

IEU members and officials gathered at the Fair Work Commission in Sydney on Friday 5 July to file an historic bargaining application to lift pay for teachers and educators in more than 100 community-based preschools across NSW.

“A successful outcome would be a game changer,” said IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews to the media. “Community preschools are crying out for teachers – their work has been undervalued for far too long and this must be fixed.”

The not-for-profit community preschool sector is enduring an acute staffing shortage thanks to inadequate salaries.

“The early learning sector has been in a dire situation for an extended time, and now we’re at breaking point,” said preschool teacher and IEU Vice President Early Childhood Services Michelle Thompson. “With fewer graduates entering early childhood education upon completion of their studies, coupled with low rates of pay for teachers and educators, immediate change is needed for our sector to survive.”

Preschool teacher and IEU member Jodie Cox.

IEU member and teacher-director at Cronulla Preschool Janene Rox said the huge pay discrepancy between teachersin the early childhood sector and teachers in schools was at the heart of the problem.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Rox said. “Paediatricians are not paid less because they specialise in supporting younger children, so why are we still differentiating between teachers?

Four-year university-trained teachers can work in early childhood education or schools. “But the pay gap between preschool teachers and our primary school colleagues has reached ridiculous levels – experienced teachers in some preschools are copping a $30,000 pay cut compared to what they can earn doing the same job in a primary school,” Rox said.

Big increases essential

“We need a 25% increase for beginning teachers and more for experienced teachers working in preschools,” Matthews said.

“Preschool teachers in other states and territories have pay rates comparable to school teachers.”

Yet currently in NSW:

  • Beginning preschool teachers: earn just $70,045 a year under the applicable modern award, while their colleagues in schools are paid $85,000 a year.
  • Experienced preschool teachers: under the modern award, the top rate for an experienced teacher is $90,134 a year. In comparison, a teacher with the same level of experience working in a NSW government school is paid $122,100 a year.

IEU member and Cronulla Preschool teacher-director Janene Rox talks to 9News reporter Hayley Francis.

Essential service, staffing crisis

Preschools provide high-quality early childhood education to many children throughout NSW, laying the foundations for success at school and lifelong learning.

Community preschools are run by voluntary parent committees of mums and dads. “But they need help to address the workforce crisis that is threatening early childhood education,” Matthews said.

The IEU is making use of the new supported bargaining stream to assist employees and not-for-profit preschools to bargain together as a group. The NSW government is included in the negotiations as it would fund the pay increases.

The aim is for the union, the NSW government and the preschools, represented by Community Early Learning Australia (CELA), to work together to lift pay and conditions across the sector and solve the workforce crisis.

The early childhood workforce is a highly feminised sector and a win would help narrow the gender pay gap. The sector also helps busy parents juggle caring responsibilities.

Employers on board

The IEU’s application to the FWC is supported by CELA, which represents the preschools.

“Preschools across NSW can’t attract the quality staff they need to deliver early education and care,” CELA chief executive officer Michele Carnegie said to the media.

“That’s why the most important thing we can do right now is to ensure that early educators and teachers are paid a professional wage. That’s why the sector is coming together. That’s why we’re unifying across community-managed preschools across NSW to make this happen.

“If we want to secure NSW’s future prosperity, we need to start with investing in our early educators and teachers.”

NSW government support needed

As part of the IEU’s Unite for Change campaign, launched in early April, the union and the preschools are initiating a negotiating process with the NSW government to fund pay rises that properly value the work of preschool staff.

“As we all know, early childhood education is a really important part of a child’s learning and brain development,” Matthews said. “We all recognise that. The NSW government recognises that. The federal government recognises that. But here in NSW, we need to do more about the pay and conditions for preschool teachers and educators.”

With more than 100 preschools already participating in this bargaining process, there are long-term implications for lifting pay and working conditions across the entire sector in NSW.

“We can’t keep asking parents to put their hands in their pockets to pay for this,” Rox said. “This is why, through this supported bargaining application, we’re asking the NSW government to join us at the negotiating table.”

The press conference concluded on a high note. “We’ve come together collectively and today there is hope,” Thompson said.

Monica Crouch
Journalist
Katie Camarena
Photos