Mr SETTER - 1996-05-22
In recent times, much has been said and heard about the teachers' dispute. Last week, the teachers put a 14-point proposal to the government, and I understand that the government responded yesterday. What additional compromises have been offered to teachers in order to resolve this long-running dispute?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, long-running it is indeed, and no doubt the parents, students and the great majority of teachers, who simply want to get on with the job in a reasonable environment, will be anxious to know just how far the government has moved since these discussions commenced some 12 months ago. Along with the other 12 000 Northern Territory public sector employees, teachers were offered a 3% pay rise, applicable from last August, with a 4% additional increment to be paid in August of this year, making a total of 7%.
Clearly, no agreement has yet been reached. However, the government has moved since then to add more incentives to the system. Those incentives have taken different forms and have, of course, in the main a dollar tag attached to them. Extra incentives have been added for remote-area teachers. Previously, $0.3m was offered, including some non-cost-type incentives that would see some comfort extended to bush teachers in their being able to be returned automatically to an urban community of their choice after a 3-year period in a remote locality.
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The government has upped the ante again. The cost of that 7% increase in salaries is about $7m in a full year. Previously, we had added to it the $0.3m I mentioned. A further $1m has now been offered. Previously, we had agreed to a formula for release time in classrooms, over and above what teachers have available to them already in terms of preparation and release time from their duties. That was costed previously at $1.9m each and every year. The additional offer, extended yesterday, is costed at $0.6m.
An incentive offered previously was to meet what was, to an extent, a legitimate concern about the disparity between 3-year- and 4-year-trained teachers. To put it simply, we have made an offer that, to progress from the 6th increment, a 3-year-trained teacher needs to have 12 years experience, compared with 15 years in Western Australia. It might not have been what the union was demanding, but it was a considerable concession that was worth $1.2m. Thus, for the next financial year, in addition to the $7m in additional salary, the government was offering $5m in additional incentives. Spread over 3 years, with the forecasted CPI, that means $48m was offered by the government as against $33m. The offer increased by $15m over 3 years.
Compare that with the 3-year demand by the union of some 7%, 7% and 7%, other demands in remote area packages, non-contact time, the formula for 3-year-trained teachers etc over the same 3-year period - a total of $74m. The government shifted from $33m to $48m. The union wants $74m over the same period. The government has moved by way of compromise. I urge those teachers who are sending their delegates to an executive meeting at the weekend to consider this very seriously. The government has shifted ground yet again. Compared to the union's unwillingness to move, there is an enormous difference.
Mr Speaker, I table a copy of the demands from the union and the government's response. Members can see for themselves that, all the way through, it is the government that has moved. There has been no compromise by the union. It has made no suggestion as to where any efficiencies could be gained. The claim it has made is an offset under the normal enterprise bargaining agreement process.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, long-running it is indeed, and no doubt the parents, students and the great majority of teachers, who simply want to get on with the job in a reasonable environment, will be anxious to know just how far the government has moved since these discussions commenced some 12 months ago. Along with the other 12 000 Northern Territory public sector employees, teachers were offered a 3% pay rise, applicable from last August, with a 4% additional increment to be paid in August of this year, making a total of 7%.
Clearly, no agreement has yet been reached. However, the government has moved since then to add more incentives to the system. Those incentives have taken different forms and have, of course, in the main a dollar tag attached to them. Extra incentives have been added for remote-area teachers. Previously, $0.3m was offered, including some non-cost-type incentives that would see some comfort extended to bush teachers in their being able to be returned automatically to an urban community of their choice after a 3-year period in a remote locality.
Page 1400
The government has upped the ante again. The cost of that 7% increase in salaries is about $7m in a full year. Previously, we had added to it the $0.3m I mentioned. A further $1m has now been offered. Previously, we had agreed to a formula for release time in classrooms, over and above what teachers have available to them already in terms of preparation and release time from their duties. That was costed previously at $1.9m each and every year. The additional offer, extended yesterday, is costed at $0.6m.
An incentive offered previously was to meet what was, to an extent, a legitimate concern about the disparity between 3-year- and 4-year-trained teachers. To put it simply, we have made an offer that, to progress from the 6th increment, a 3-year-trained teacher needs to have 12 years experience, compared with 15 years in Western Australia. It might not have been what the union was demanding, but it was a considerable concession that was worth $1.2m. Thus, for the next financial year, in addition to the $7m in additional salary, the government was offering $5m in additional incentives. Spread over 3 years, with the forecasted CPI, that means $48m was offered by the government as against $33m. The offer increased by $15m over 3 years.
Compare that with the 3-year demand by the union of some 7%, 7% and 7%, other demands in remote area packages, non-contact time, the formula for 3-year-trained teachers etc over the same 3-year period - a total of $74m. The government shifted from $33m to $48m. The union wants $74m over the same period. The government has moved by way of compromise. I urge those teachers who are sending their delegates to an executive meeting at the weekend to consider this very seriously. The government has shifted ground yet again. Compared to the union's unwillingness to move, there is an enormous difference.
Mr Speaker, I table a copy of the demands from the union and the government's response. Members can see for themselves that, all the way through, it is the government that has moved. There has been no compromise by the union. It has made no suggestion as to where any efficiencies could be gained. The claim it has made is an offset under the normal enterprise bargaining agreement process.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016