- The Guardian
- Issue #2181
Photo: Australian Education Union Victoria facebook
After 20 months of negotiating and still without an acceptable offer on the table from the Allan Labor government, kindergarten teachers and educators have been forced to escalate industrial action by stopping work again for 24 hours.
This is the second 24-hour statewide stopwork in five months, with kindergarten teachers and educators taking action – including a mass meeting of union members and a march to Parliament – because they are undervalued when it comes to pay and have excessive and unmanageable workloads, leading to almost one day of unpaid overtime per week on average.
President of the Australian Education Union (AEU) Victorian Branch, Justin Mullaly said these issues and the absence of an acceptable response from the Allan government leave kindergarten teachers and educators with little choice but to take action, which is not done lightly.
“It has taken far too long for the state government to properly address AEU members’ claims. This is deeply disrespectful. The state government needs to value kindergarten teachers and educators properly as the current situation is having serious consequences,” Mullaly said.
The AEU Victorian Branch’s recent State of Our Kinders survey shows around half of kindergarten teachers and educators always or often think about leaving the early childhood profession.
“It is totally unacceptable for the Allan government to call Victoria the ‘Education State,’ when kindergarten teachers and educators are undervalued, with half of them thinking about leaving the profession.
“This is driven by poor opportunities to progress salaries, excessive requirements related to compliance, and insufficient planning time.”
AEU Early Childhood Vice President Cara Nightingale said, “The failure of the Allan Labor government to put a fair and reasonable offer on the table also puts at risk their free kinder promise to Victorian parents with three and four-year-old children.”
The government has promised 15 hours of free kindergarten for three-year-olds and 30 hours for four-year-olds. To deliver this, Victoria needs 11,000 more kindergarten teachers and educators.
“Attracting the next generation of kindergarten teachers and educators requires competitive pay and for their work to be valued,” Nightingale said.
“In addition, the Allan government must put in place measures that enable the retention of current kindergarten teachers and educators.”
“The state government needs to be much better at valuing kindergarten teachers and educators, if half of them regularly think about leaving the profession.”
In September last year, for the first time since 2014, kindergarten teachers and educators were forced to take industrial action as the Allan government had failed to come forward with a pay offer. More than five months later, real progress has still not been made.
“If the Allan government appreciated and respected the work of kindergarten teachers and educators, they would have come to the table with a fair and decent offer 20 months ago,” Mullaly said.
“Instead, kindergarten teachers and educators have had to campaign for improved pay and conditions that are needed to keep existing kindergarten staff and recruit the future workforce.”
