Today our union reached in-principle agreement on an offer for the new NTPS Educator’s Agreement. This followed receipt of a substantially improved offer yesterday afternoon and a meeting of the Branch Executive this morning, who overwhelmingly endorsed its content.
This offer contains significant improvements over the previous employer offer and addresses many of the points of feedback we collated from the recent round of Sub-Branch members meetings.
Significant Salary Increases
Our union has secured headline increases of 4.3% in October 2024, 4.3% in January 2026, and 4.3% in January 2027, providing a total 13.6% compounding over the proposed 3 year & 3-month length of the agreement.
A new 10-point salary structure for Classroom Teachers will be introduced. This will see classroom teachers, on average, receive a 8.7% pay increase in the first year of the agreement.
- All current CT’s will move up one step, with a new tenth step created for existing CT9s.
- The current CT1 level will be used for “Permission to Teach” (pre-teaching degree) teachers.
- Renumbering will then occur keeping your current CT number but with higher $s.
- When due, your annual progression step will continue.
By 2027 starting graduate salaries will hit over $100,000 while a top CT9 rate will be $142,888.
We are the first jurisdiction to hit the hundred thousand dollar mark for new graduates!
Retention payments in Katherine and Alice Springs will increase by $1,000 to $4,500
New AT6 and AT7 salary rates created to which eligible employees at AT4 and AT5 will be reclassified. This sees our remote Assistant Teachers receiving up to 16% in salary increases in October.
Other Enhancements
A commitment for the Department to work with our Union outside of the EA process to develop eligibility criteria for a “Hard to Fill School” payment scheme that will allow schools to attract and retain staff. AEU NT believes this is needed, for example, in school in and around Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek.
Significant increases to non-contact time for primary school teachers reaching 4.5 hours by 2027.
We will be providing members more detailed information on the offer and the overall improvements to your enterprise agreement in the next week.
In conclusion for now, this pay offer and update to conditions is one of the most significant in our union’s history.
Our union will continue to work with members and the Department to introduce sustainable changes as new funding is introduced through the “Better and Fairer Agreement” for bi-lateral school funding which was signed today by Education Ministers Jason Clare and Mark Monaghan.