We met with the Commissioner on Wednesday to inform her that the AEU NT would not agree to the current offer for a new NTPS Educators Agreement, nor any replacement offer, unless significant improvements are made to address the severe burden in our schools caused by the teacher attraction and retention crisis.
Sub-Branch Motion Results
Last week, approximately 600 of you met in over 50 sub-branches to consider the AEU NT’s position on the Commissioner’s offer. The motion to endorse was clearly lost.
| Total Motions: | 51 | Total Votes*: | 484 | |
| Carried | 18 | For | 136 | |
| Lost | 33 | Against | 289 | |
| Abstentions | 59 |
* as some sub-branches returned motion results without a headcount, we estimate that roughly 100 members are not represented within the individual vote numbers
We purposefully kept our communications on this offer neutral. This enabled the voice of our members to shine through loud and clear. The teachers of the NT do notagree to this offer. The theme of the feedback was emphatic: we must do more to attract and retain teachers in the NT!
What comes next?
The NT Government goes into caretaker mode for the election in August. Once that happens negotiations will cease until either a re-elected Labor or a newly elected CLP government takes office in September. We have been busy knocking on doors in Parliament to see if anything can be done to significantly improve this offer before that happens.
As a result of these conversations, we believe there is a likelihood that we will see a new offer next week. However, the nature of the improvements to be included is as yet unknown. We have been clear with the Government, the Commissioner, and the Department of Education that a small percentage increase will not resolve the concerns of our members.
Our bargaining position has always been that order to attract and retain quality teachers in the NT we need to be the best paid in Australia by a significant margin, not only at the bottom and top levels, but across the entire Classroom Teacher scale. This is because the entire NT is remote compared to the rest of Australia. The best way to address that is to have the strongest base salaries by far.
In addition, we MUST do better to address the crisis in the hard to staff towns of Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. Although the entire NT is struggling to attract teachers, the impact on those towns has been devastating.
If we do not receive a suitable offer before NTG caretaker mode commences on 1 August, we will publicly call for NT Government electoral candidates and party leaders to come out with policy that addresses this. Education is already a key campaign issue. We will ensure that attracting and retaining quality teachers is part of that narrative.
What can members do now?
Candidates for the NT Election will be door-knocking every weekend and out and about in public consistently in the lead up to the election. Share with them some of your recent experiences as a teacher in an NT Government school during an attraction and retention crisis. Focus on things like collapsed classes, classes without a registered teacher, and classes far above the current maximum of 27 students. Tell them about this offer. Tell them that we simply must do better.
Ensure that you identify yourself as a union member in order to meet the requirements of the NTPS Code of Conduct.
Please continue talking to your colleagues about the strength of our current position. There is an additional one billion dollars of funding coming into the Department of Education between 2025 and 2029. Approximately half of that will be during the life of this next agreement.
Our For Every Child campaign was instrumental in achieving that funding. The core message of that campaign is that every child deserves a high-quality public education. It is impossible to achieve that without teachers. This message is as important now as it ever has been.
Rachael and I will be on the Union’s NT stall at the Darwin Show this Saturday from 1pm – 3pm. If you are in Darwin, come on down to have a chat about bargaining and grab some For Every Child campaign freebies.
Thank you
Thanks to everyone who participated in meetings over the past few weeks. Because of you, we are now in a much stronger bargaining position. That’s the power of the union.
In solidarity,
Michelle Ayres
Branch President
Australian Education Union NT