The ongoing pay dispute between the State government and the Australian Education Union (AEU) appears to have taken a turn for the better with both parties meeting again for negotiations.
The new negotiation follows Premier Denis Napthine’s announcement that he will be removing the controversial ‘performance pay’ from the negotiating table.
The idea of performance pay was to reward the best performing teachers in the state with bonus pay.
However there were many pitfalls of this plan.
Judging just who would be rewarded for the progress of a student would be too difficult and unfair, as casual relief teacher Debbie Malmo pointed out.
“It is too difficult to judge what would merit performance pay. Different students are at different stages because of learning disabilities and socioeconomic status. One teacher cannot be fairly judged on the performance of a class in comparison to another which may have less disadvantaged students.”
“Teachers do not get paid enough for the work that they do. It’s a demanding occupation that deserves recognition.”
Teachers across Victoria are involved in stop works, report writing bans and other union action in the hopes of better pay and conditions; the class sizes in public schools being a major bone of contention.
Former Premier Ted Ballieu offered the idea of performance pay to counter the 12.6 per cent increase over three years, his answer to the promise of making Victorian teachers ‘the best paid in the country’.
Currently Western Australia has the highest paid teachers in the country, while Victoria are ranked amongst the lowest. The AEU released a report of teacher’s salaries by state as of 2012.
In an effort to resolve the issue both sides have made concessions, the government in shelving the performance pay and teacher’s dropping their claim for a 30 per cent increase over three years to the now 12.6 per cent they are asking.
The government is optimistic that an agreement can be reached, especially now that performance pay has been removed with a spokesperson saying that the removal of performance pay will allow for the EBA to be resolved quickly.
Teachers are happy with the change in leadership, but are not convinced that they will receive what they are asking for.
The AEU says that they are still waiting to see what the Premier has to offer in response to removing performance pay as a negotiating factor.
Justin Mullaly, a spokesperson for the AEU says “we are continuing to negotiate with the government in the hopes that the EBA will be resolved. However at this point we are still in talks with the government.”
He also went on to say that following a state council meeting on Friday 22nd March there will be another round of scheduled state wide stop works beginning on April 30 that will continue through Term 2.
The AEU also plans to rally in the Premier’s electoral seat of Warnambool on this date.
Have your say, do you think the AEU is asking for too much?
