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TAFE teachers worth every cent

Graham Matthews, Sydney

8 August 2009

NSW TAFE teachers in NSW will stop work on August 11 after the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) proposed an increase of 71 teaching hours a week, an end to the allocation of professional development and a lifting of the ceiling on hours taught in any one week.

The offer was a concession of sorts. The extra teaching hours sought from teachers has dropped from 154 to 71. DET’s concession follows months of industrial action from TAFE teachers across the state.

The department has proposed the increased teaching load as fair compensation for wage increases of 12.48% over three years. “These awards delivered substantial salary increases which had to be funded consistent with government wages policy which requires increases above 2.5% per annum to be matched with employee related savings,” said Michael Coutts-Trotter, DET director-general, in a letter to TAFE teachers on July 30.

The union has rejected DET’s past offers, which, it said, amounted to an extra six to eight weeks’ work without compensation. The union also said the dramatic increases in full-time teaching loads would mean the loss of thousands of casual teachers’ jobs.

In an August 3 letter to members, the union called on TAFE teachers to “oppose this attack on your working conditions and professionalism”.