Teachers seal three-year pay and conditions deal Camden Haven Camden Haven News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - November 1, 2024 After long negotiations, NSW teachers have won a three-year pay and conditions deal. Photo: Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS. TEACHERS in Australia’s largest school system have agreed to a three-year pay deal that includes better working conditions, ending the prospect of a damaging industrial dispute with the NSW government. The NSW Teachers Federation signed the wage deal, which includes a minimum pay increase of three percent for the next three years, on Monday after months of negotiations. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au Schools started late as tens of thousands of teachers engaged in the stop-work meeting to vote on the agreement. Union president Henry Rajendra said the deal was integral to addressing teacher workforce shortages across the state. “The working conditions of our profession were very, very difficult,” he told reporters. “What we have now are wonderful opportunities where the employer, finally, after so many years, is offering the profession a genuine sense of respect.” The deal includes flexible working arrangements, three extra pupil-free days at the start of term and a $1000 cost-of-living payment if inflation rises to above 4.5 percent for the state’s 95,000 public school teachers. “Noting the gendered nature of the teaching profession, where 80 percent of the workforce are women, we’ve got significant improvements in terms of leave and working conditions,” Mr Rajendra said. Flexible working arrangements might mean two teachers could split a full-time job in order to fill critical gaps in the workforce. Schools were also left to fend for themselves for professional development opportunities under the previous government, the union said, but will now be given the tools and time to grow teaching careers. The multi-year deal follows a major one-off pay increase for teachers that was agreed in September 2023. It made many the nation’s best-paid for their cohort and included a 12 percent boost in starting salaries to $85,000 a year. Education Minister Prue Car said vacancies in public schools had fallen significantly since the initial deal was struck, while the government was also trying to improve working conditions to retain existing staff. “The things we’ve been able to collaborate on, we’re seeing results on,” she said. Salaries for teachers at the top of the pay scale went from $113,042 a year to $122,100 under the previously agreed increase. By Neve BRISSENDEN, AAP
