Mrs BRAHAM - 1996-08-13
Over the last 14 months, the Australian Education Union, particularly the Northern Territory branch, has caused considerable disruption in Territory schools, pursuing a separate
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enterprise bargaining agreement. Can the minister tell the Assembly why the government has not granted the separate EBA and where he sees the dispute going from here?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, very sadly, over the weekend, the executive of the AEU entirely wasted its time. It had been sent a very clear message by the teachers of the Northern Territory. In addition to the 950 individual teachers who had signed agreements accepting the government's offer, some 130-plus teachers put their hands in the air to indicate that they wanted to accept the package - against a fair amount of pressure, as you can imagine. Members opposite have been to the odd union meeting. They are aware of the onerous task it would be to speak against the union, never mind stick their hand in the air to accept the government's offer, absolutely and unquestionably, including the matter of the integrated enterprise bargaining agreement. Those 130-plus teachers were prepared to do that. I would suggest that they are not an exhaustive number by any means. There were 750 people approximately, or a maximum ...
Mr Bailey: How many people were eligible to sign the contracts?
Mr FINCH: All teachers are eligible to sign the contract.
Mr Bailey: How many teachers? You do not even know the number of teachers employed.
Mr FINCH: We have a big difference of opinion here. I have always said that the number of teachers in schools is approximately 1850.
Mr Bailey: But how many people are eligible to sign?
Mr FINCH: The secretary of the union claims that there are over 3000. If there are over 3000, I am really delighted. Do not tell the Treasurer, although he probably thinks that we are doing extraordinarily well with the budget he gives us. To be able to pay for over 3000 teachers with the sum allocated would require some of the skill involved elsewhere with loaves and fishes.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr FINCH: There are people who are on maternity leave or long-service leave. There are others who are non-paid inoperatives, hanging on to a job while taking leave without pay ...
Mr Bailey: You can't count..
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wanguri will have opportunities to ask other questions during these sittings.
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Mr FINCH: Let us say that the union can count. Its representatives tell us they have 2300 paid-up, financial members. If we count all the inoperatives, people who are on leave without pay etc, there are 2600 ...
Mr Bailey: Office positions.
Mr FINCH: There are 160 office positions, not 700 as the secretary of the union claims. Let me go through it. Only 20 persons are eligible at TAFE. There are 270 Aboriginal and assistant teachers. They are included in the 2600. There are 1850 in schools.
Mr Bailey: How many of the 950 are in the 1800?
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: If the number of union members is 2300, as is claimed by the secretary of the union - and one would think he might know - then 2600 minus 2300 used to leave 300. If 950 have signed individual agreements, the union must accept that 650 of those are its members trying to tell it what to do. Another 130 to 150 were prepared the other day to stick their hands in the air for unconditional acceptance ...
Mr Bailey: How many of those ...
Mr FINCH: Listen to the numbers.
Mr Bailey: You are like the person ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: I will be more precise. I think the actual number who have signed is 947, to be precise. If we add the 950 to the 130-odd, that totals close to 1100. Of course, those teachers who had signed were not at the stopwork meetings. They were not allowed to be there. These are fresh numbers. That adds up to almost 1100 teachers who are telling the union they want an unconditional signing, against 500 others who have been pressured, bullied and driven out of the schools to attend meetings ...
Members interjecting.
Mr FINCH: It is time the union realised that this esoteric, philosophical, nonsensical debate about a separate EBA is long dead. There will be no more discussion of a separate EBA, full stop.
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Page 1468
enterprise bargaining agreement. Can the minister tell the Assembly why the government has not granted the separate EBA and where he sees the dispute going from here?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, very sadly, over the weekend, the executive of the AEU entirely wasted its time. It had been sent a very clear message by the teachers of the Northern Territory. In addition to the 950 individual teachers who had signed agreements accepting the government's offer, some 130-plus teachers put their hands in the air to indicate that they wanted to accept the package - against a fair amount of pressure, as you can imagine. Members opposite have been to the odd union meeting. They are aware of the onerous task it would be to speak against the union, never mind stick their hand in the air to accept the government's offer, absolutely and unquestionably, including the matter of the integrated enterprise bargaining agreement. Those 130-plus teachers were prepared to do that. I would suggest that they are not an exhaustive number by any means. There were 750 people approximately, or a maximum ...
Mr Bailey: How many people were eligible to sign the contracts?
Mr FINCH: All teachers are eligible to sign the contract.
Mr Bailey: How many teachers? You do not even know the number of teachers employed.
Mr FINCH: We have a big difference of opinion here. I have always said that the number of teachers in schools is approximately 1850.
Mr Bailey: But how many people are eligible to sign?
Mr FINCH: The secretary of the union claims that there are over 3000. If there are over 3000, I am really delighted. Do not tell the Treasurer, although he probably thinks that we are doing extraordinarily well with the budget he gives us. To be able to pay for over 3000 teachers with the sum allocated would require some of the skill involved elsewhere with loaves and fishes.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr FINCH: There are people who are on maternity leave or long-service leave. There are others who are non-paid inoperatives, hanging on to a job while taking leave without pay ...
Mr Bailey: You can't count..
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wanguri will have opportunities to ask other questions during these sittings.
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Mr FINCH: Let us say that the union can count. Its representatives tell us they have 2300 paid-up, financial members. If we count all the inoperatives, people who are on leave without pay etc, there are 2600 ...
Mr Bailey: Office positions.
Mr FINCH: There are 160 office positions, not 700 as the secretary of the union claims. Let me go through it. Only 20 persons are eligible at TAFE. There are 270 Aboriginal and assistant teachers. They are included in the 2600. There are 1850 in schools.
Mr Bailey: How many of the 950 are in the 1800?
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: If the number of union members is 2300, as is claimed by the secretary of the union - and one would think he might know - then 2600 minus 2300 used to leave 300. If 950 have signed individual agreements, the union must accept that 650 of those are its members trying to tell it what to do. Another 130 to 150 were prepared the other day to stick their hands in the air for unconditional acceptance ...
Mr Bailey: How many of those ...
Mr FINCH: Listen to the numbers.
Mr Bailey: You are like the person ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: I will be more precise. I think the actual number who have signed is 947, to be precise. If we add the 950 to the 130-odd, that totals close to 1100. Of course, those teachers who had signed were not at the stopwork meetings. They were not allowed to be there. These are fresh numbers. That adds up to almost 1100 teachers who are telling the union they want an unconditional signing, against 500 others who have been pressured, bullied and driven out of the schools to attend meetings ...
Members interjecting.
Mr FINCH: It is time the union realised that this esoteric, philosophical, nonsensical debate about a separate EBA is long dead. There will be no more discussion of a separate EBA, full stop.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016