Member Bulletin, 6 September 2022
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Territory teacher support for our Branch Executive’s rejection of the revised offer based on adjusted increment rates could not have been any clearer. The turnout at the NTPS-wide day of action coordinated by Unions NT was strong across all regions with strident, well-attended rallies in Katherine, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy, Alice Springs and Darwin in addition to a host of actions taken by remote school members. We commend all members, old and new, for the solidarity and strength you have shown at this crucial juncture.
We can expect the improved offer received from OCPE last week to go to an employee ballot (involving all those paid under our EA, not limited to union members) within weeks. The Branch Executive is developing a position on what we would view as worthy of consideration by our members, but in the meantime, here is why we urge you to encourage your colleagues – both members and non-members, to VOTE NO when the employee ballot lands in your inbox!
- Proposed bonuses of $4,000 (to be paid immediately upon reaching an agreement) and an additional $2,000 (to be paid in October 2023) are not rolled into salaries. They remain one-off, stand-alone payments subject to income tax.
- The original bonus payments offered were $10,000 over 4 years. You are now being offered $6,000 of bonuses over 3 years plus a one-off variable increase in the value of increments.
- The proposed increment rises could be viewed as a ‘pay rise’. However, the benefit does not equate to that of annual percentage pay rises. The new increments outlined in the offer will remain static until the EA’s end in October 2024.
- Increment rises are not consistent across levels, leaving some members better off than others.
- This offer fails to consider the real rising costs of living in the NT.
- There is no clarification about the funding source for these bonuses and increment rises: Are they to be centrally funded, or will they be taken straight out of the budgets of already struggling schools?
- Insufficient information has been provided around ‘performance’ requirements for the new senior teacher increments.
- Our status as the highest paid teachers in the country is only protected until mid-2023. If this is lost, we will fail to recruit and retain teachers to the some of the most disadvantaged schools in the nation and your workload will increase.
It is likely that an employee ballot for this 3-year offer (2021-2024) covering all those employed under the NTPS Non-Contract Principals, Teachers and Assistant Teachers’ Enterprise Agreement will begin soon.
Don’t fall for the promise of so-called bonuses not linked to your base salary!
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