October 26 Sky Channel to consider salaries offer
By Maree O’Halloran
A Sky Channel meeting of members will be held at 9am on October 26.
The purpose of this Sky Channel meeting is to:
- accept or reject the salaries offer from the Director-General; and
- if the offer is rejected, plan a course of action for the salaries campaign.
Federation received a salaries offer on October 18 from the Director-General. The offer is made on a "without prejudice" basis and subject to government approval. The offer is commensurate with the four per cent per annum settlement the State Government made with nurses, the public service, police, the health service and the fire brigade.
On October 18, Executive considered the offer and determined that further negotiations were needed to increase the offer for top of the scale classroom teachers.
The offer follows negotiations between the Federation's Senior Officers and the Department. There have also been meetings between Federation's Senior Officers and Deputy Premier John Watkins and Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt.
ACTU President Sharan Burrow and Unions NSW Secretary John Robertson have also urged the State Government to make an unprecedented, early offer to teachers so that the salaries award can be settled without disruption to teachers' lives or public education.
In the current volatile industrial relations environment, public education teachers are entitled to security for salaries and conditions.
Meeting with the Premier
Federation's Senior Officers met with Premier Morris Iemma on October 18 and said an early salaries offer from the Director-General was welcome, particularly in the face of the Federal Government's agenda. The current award does not expire until December 31 and in many past campaigns salary increases were not achieved until well after the expiry of the award.
Federation advised the Premier that the union was having further discussions with the Department to pursue more for teachers at the top of the scale.
Mr Iemma appears intent on a new approach in industrial relations with the Federation. This is in part due to his leadership style . It is also in large part because the Federal Government's industrial relations changes are worse than expected and likely to affect many State Government employees, including teachers.
Federation Executive was due to meet on the evening of October 21 and Federation Council on October 22. After considering reports about negotiations and the salaries offer they were expected to make a recommendation to the Sky Channel meeting.
Maree O'Halloran is the President.
Summary of Federation's claim and the Director-General's 'without prejudice' offer
For further information
October 2005 contents
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