The union has submitted our log of claims to the Commissioner for Public Employment. The log contains the claims we intend to pursue in enterprise bargaining and is provided in full below. It was endorsed by the Branch Executive on Friday 18 August.
Thank you to members for your input in shaping this claim. It incorporates decisions from our annual Conference, priorities identified by our bargaining team as well as the feedback received from the more than 800 of you who responded to our survey.
We will provide a member bulletin later this week with more information about what we are seeking to achieve through bargaining. Meetings are being arranged in all regions to provide further detail about our claims. Please contact the office if you would like the President or Secretary to speak to your sub-branch or have any queries about the claim.
Remember that our strength is in our unity and numbers. With bargaining underway, now is a great time to encourage a colleague to join. It takes just a couple of minutes online so please provide encourage them to sign up!
Log of claims
Salaries
- Increase of 4% p.a. for all staff covered by the agreement over the life of the agreement.
Classifications
- Change classification of all teaching principals in schools currently designated as TP1 to TP2.
- Change classification of all teaching principals in schools currently designated as TP2 to PL1.
- Incorporate all Executive Principal (EPL) designations into Schedule 7.
- Remove Clause 20.3 relating to Specialist Teachers.
Increments
- Remove clause 21.3 relating to CT5-CT6 progression.
Secure employment
- Teachers to be offered the opportunity to convert to permanent employment after 12 months of continuous fixed-term contract employment unless a case can be made as to why position should remain temporary (eg backfilling, fluctuating enrolments).
- Remove process of classroom teachers gaining ongoing employment through school-based advertised merit selection.
Staffing
- Expansion of Clause 26 (c) into a new clause to guarantee right of transfer for ALL classroom teachers, irrespective of locality (to be negotiated between Union and DoE).
- Restoration of staffing formula as it existed prior to changes in 2013 and incorporation of staffing formula into the Agreement.
Preschool teacher-in-charge
- Double allowance to reflect workloads demands and complexity.
Consultation
- Strengthening of Management of Change and other clauses as per negotiations in NTPS General EA.
- Establishment of workplace consultative committees in all workplaces.
Non-contact time
- Minimum NCT to be increased to 5 hours and 20 minutes for all preschool, primary and special education teachers, to ensure parity with secondary teachers.
- Minimum NCT for secondary teachers to be defined as 5 hours and 20 minutes in the Agreement.
- Minimum NCT for Senior Teachers to defined in the Agreement.
- Clarity required about arrangements for NCT for Teaching Principals.
- Clause 40 to be rewritten.
Class sizes
- Maximum class size limit to be reduced from 27 to 25.
- Class size capped at 20 for all remote schools.
- Class size capped at 22 for all Transition, Year 1, 2 and 3 classes.
- Class size definition to be based on enrolled students (students on the roll) not number of students physically present.
Personal Leave
- Fixed-term staff to be credited with entitlement to personal leave on commencement of employment proportionate to the length of contract (e.g. 7.5 days for a six-month contract), not leave based on accumulated service as is currently the case (33.4 (b)).
- Personal leave balances to be increased based on categories of remoteness: 17 days for Category 1 employees, 18 days for Category 2 and 20 days for Category 3.
Teacher Responsibilities
- Incorporation of relevant industrial sections of Guide: face-to-face teaching, other professional responsibilities, maximum face-to-face hours, NCT, voluntary/discretionary effort, student supervision – span of hours, breaks, meetings.
Union rights
- Guaranteed union representation on all selection panels for school-based appointments including EPL and ECPL principal positions.
- Improved access to union training for workplace representatives.
- Release for Executive members to attend to duties.
- Guarantee of access to payroll deduction for collection of union fees.
Probation/Early career teachers
- Introduction of a new clause on supporting early career teachers (ECTs). ECTs to be granted an additional one hour of release time in their first year of employment to work with a designated mentor.
- Examine probation processes to ensure better alignment between PSEMA requirements and teacher registration requirements. Consideration of status of fixed-term employees and need for access to additional mentoring and support.
Fixed-period teachers
- Amend Clause 28.4 to ensure contract teachers are paid for stand down period immediately following end of their contract even if contract of employment not extended beyond stand down period.
- Agency to meet full cost of relocation and return to point of origin within Australia including partner, dependents and freight for contract teachers.
Assistant teachers
- Insert new clause detailing roles and responsibilities of ATs; including entitlement to NCT for planning and student assessment purposes.
- Clarification of entitlement of ATs to undertake study through BIITE (condition of employment) during paid work time.
- Cessation of employment of ATs employed for 25 hours a week or more through School Councils; all ATs engaged in 25 hours or more a week to be converted to NTG employees.
Remote localities
- Insert sub-clause dealing specifically with Special Remote Study Leave as a guaranteed entitlement for remote employees meeting criteria; policy not to be altered without agreement of the Union.
- Insert sub-clause detailing entitlements and provisions relating to FOILs.
Special Leave Without Pay
- Insert clause detailing rights; currently entirely discretionary, no right to cut short period of leave.
Domestic Violence Leave
- Introduction of specific clause and entitlement.
Stand down arrangements
- Introduction of a new clause defining stand down and specifying arrangements in relation to unpaid leave taken adjacent to stand down period.
Induction
- Replace current Surviving and Thriving workshops clause with new clause on Induction in January and July.
Principals
- Phasing out of executive contracts for principals and a return to ongoing employment.
Flexible school year
- Review of arrangements particularly in relation to employees’ ability to overturn arrangements.
Independent Public Schools
- No extension of IPS; clarity that existing IPS schools operate under same rules as non-IPS.
Performance development
- Development of clause on performance development framework and inability procedures (MUPS).
Definition of family
- Broaden definition of family to include kinship relations.