Teacher assistants have become the latest ammunition the Australian Education Union Tasmania has thrown at the government in its long-running pay dispute.
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AEU Tasmania branch president Helen Richardson called on Premier Will Hodgman to reverse changes to teacher assistants’ award that results in them being “stood down” over school holidays.
The standing down means that teacher assistants are only paid for 40 weeks a year, instead of 52, because of a historic clause in their EBA wage agreement.
“[Teacher assistants] work with the most vulnerable students and often provide a vital link between these families and the schools,” Ms Richardson said.
“It’s time this government recognises the contribute teacher assistants and support staff make to our education system.”
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the government recognised the vital role teacher assistants play in the school system, which is evidenced in the current wage proposal put forward.
In the proposal, the government has committed to employing more teacher assistants alongside the 95 extra specialist teachers and extra 250 teachers already committed to.
“Teacher assistants do a fantastic job,” Mr Rockliff said.
“This is a long-standing issue, but we will be, of course, open to suggestions on how to improve this.”
Teacher assistants have the option to spread their pay over the 12 months, if that makes it easier but Mr Rockliff said the school hours were set so they couldn’t be paid for times school wasn’t open.
However, Ms Richardson said teacher assistants were one of the lowest paid educational workers, with an average salary of only $25,000.
She said the government needed to come back to the table to negotiate fairly and include provisions for support staff, such as teacher assistants.
“We had meetings with our support staff around Tasmania last week and they whole-heartedly rejected the offer but on the table,” she said.
The government’s latest offer, which is the second that has been proposed to the union, includes a commitment to employ an additional 95 specialist teachers on top of its existing election commitment to recruit 250 teachers.
It also includes a pay rise of two per cent over three years, which has not budged from the state election, which the government has consistently said addresses workload concerns and reduces teacher contact hours.
The proposal has been met with criticism by the AEU because the “lack of detail” around some of the conditions. The union is also considering further stop work meetings and escalation of industrial action in 2019.
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