Teachers and principals have made their voices heard and voted to support a 12-month interim pay deal proposed by the state government despite its union being critical of the compromise.
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The Australian Education Union Tasmania branch sent a ballot to its members following the proposal of the pay deal in July and the results have shown 84 per cent of members support the deal.
However, when the pay offer was presented by the state government, the education union was critical of its provisions for teachers and was the only union to be outspoken in its resistance.
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At the time, AEU Tasmanian branch president Helen Richardson ridiculed the deal for its conditions, saying the union would encourage its members to reject the deal.
This was out of step with all of the other public service unions, who either accepted or said they would consider the 12-month interim deal.
On Wednesday, Ms Richardson said despite the offer being accepted by its members, it [the deal] would leave Tasmanian teachers as "the lowest paid in the country, dealing with the most complex and disadvantaged classes."
"Education union members have broken the government's unfair and unsustainable wage cap policy with collective action and are looking forward to returning to the negotiating table for a longer-term agreement," Ms Richardson said
Need a refresher on the dispute? Catch up here:
The offer accepted by teacher members includes pay rises of 2.35 per cent with 2.1 per cent backdated to March 1, 2019, as well as a one-off payment of 0.15 pro rata of base salary capped at $120.
Ms Richardson said while the 12-month off did break the stalemate, it did not address the critical concerns the union had over teacher workload, and looked forward to returning to the negotiating table with the government to discuss those terms.
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"The number one priority for teachers is workload - it's all about our students who need their teachers to have time for individual learning and planning," she said.
"If the government fails to return to the negotiating table immediately as promised, teacher workloads and student learning in 2020 will be at risk."
Negotiations are expected to begin in November to discuss a longer term agreement for all public sector wages and have been overseen by Premier Will Hodgman.
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