Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation

Call Number
Nef 331.8809944 EDU
Created/Published
Sydney : The Federation, 1919-2021
Issue
Vol. 80 No. 07 (7 Jun 1999)
Images
20
View Catalogue

Contents

EDUCATION JOURNAL OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS FEOERATION 1
Minister on salaries strike 1
Aquilina telegraphs his punches 1
Education is not immune to casualisation 1 , 2
SALARIES Equity important for salaries campaign 2
How teaching has changed 2
Officers 2
Executive 2
Minister ignores the voice of teachers on HSC 3
Advertising 3
Keeping us safe 3
Advertising 3
NEWS State Budget critical for young 4
The environment is teachers’ business 4
In BRIEF 4
Choose TAFE over private providers 5
Don’t administer medicine 5
Board of tudies report 5
Advertising 5
FEDERAL BUDGET Women continue to carry Budget burden 6
No extra money for TAFE, VET or AMES 6
Comment 6
Advertising 6
Salary adjustments for strike periods explained 7
Anti-racist activities surveyed 7
Advertising 7
The President Writes 8
LETTERS to the Editor Extreme concern about syllabus 8
Intervention achieves positive outcome 8
Playground stress 8 , 9
Sporting outrage 9
Funding estimates 9
Advertising 9
ADMINISTRATION Election to Fill Casual Vacancy of Administrative Officer (Industrial) 10
Duty statement 10
Advertising 10
Syllabus development transparent 10
Resources not discipline powers 10
FINANCE Who scares you the most? The taxman or the dentist? 11
QUI DOCET DISCIT 11
The Internet, E commerce and what it can mean for you 11
Our Fed Reps 11
RETIRED Retired Teachers Association 12 , 13
Advertising 12
VIEWS Progressive words, reactionary policy 13
Inclusion push creates turmoil 13
Getting serious about private schools 13
REVIEWS cheap WINE Cowra’s the place for food, wine and balloons 14
books Complex truths and no easy answers 14
Website Creditable presence 14
Advertising 14
The Bard – merchant of brilliance Theatre 15
Don’t leave home without it Up, Up and Away 15
Support East Timor events 15
FILM Life is what happens when... 16 , 17
Advertising 16
Ask Mr Yen: Young readers’ queries answered Mr Yen's World 17
Computer Corner An explosion of brilliant art 17
Advertising 18 , 19
DT SMITH 19
SHOE 19
THOSE WHO CAN’T 19
INSIDE 20
New Teachers Club launched 20
Gender hierarchy affects curriculum 20

Text

EDUCATION  

JOURNAL OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS FEOERATION  

Agreement No. PP 255 001  

fghgf  

Minister on salaries strike  

by Sue Simpson  

Teacher lobbying has finally  

brought about the first discussion  

between the Federation’s Senior  

Officers and Minister John  

Aquilina on the Federation’s  

salaries and status claim.  

Although it is less than month  

until the teachers’ salary awards  

expire and nine months since  

Federation first presented its  

salaries and status claim to the  

Minister, the Minister has still not  

entered into salary negotiations.  

At meeting on May 25 the  

Minister indicated that the process  

for negotiating salaries is “more  

involved” than usual because of  

the State Budget being delivered  

June 22, just over week before  

the awards expire. He went on to  

say that teacher salaries were  

being considered in the context of  

whole of Government approach  

to public sector salaries in order to  

control the potential of “flow-  

ons”. Teacher salaries are the first  

major public sector salary negoti-  

ations facing the Government.  

Regarding teacher salaries in par-  

ticular the new awards were to be  

consistent with election commit-  

ments. On the matter of quantum  

there was the usual argument  

about the finite size of the Budget  

allocation with Federation’s claim  

not fitting in to his Budget alloca-  

tion. Federation continues to seek  

genuine negotiations.  

On May 26 Mr Aquilina  

embarked on misleading media  

campaign around background  

briefing paper prepared for MPs  

in response to our lobbying. With  

the co-operation of the Daily  

Telegraph, the Minister attempted  

to turn the community against  

public education teachers by pro-  

pagandising public school teach-  

ers as greedy (see story this page).  

It was thoroughly dishonest  

attack by desperate Minister.  

This background briefing paper  

refers to “salary packages” rather  

than award rates claiming that  

more than 80 percent of teachers  

earn “a salary package” of  

$54,360! Superannuation is  

included in the “salary package”  

without distinguishing the very  

different benefits between  

schemes. Many women, younger  

teachers, as well as casual and  

part-time teachers only have the  

basic benefit which is available to  

all workers. No mention is made  

that the majority of unpromoted  

permanent teachers at the top of  

the incremental scale have been  

there for 10 to 30 years. The  

20,000 casual teachers (the major-  

ity women) are outside the calcu-  

lation. Ignoring them serves to  

boost the “average” salary pack-  

age and to hide the inequity of the  

incremental salary barrier. Also  

invisible in this calculation are the  

increasing numbers of teachers,  

mainly women, working perma-  

nent part-time or on various forms  

of part-time leave. Beginning  

teachers are depicted as particu-  

larly greedy. Not only is their  

beginning salary depicted as  

higher than for other public ser-  

vice professionals but with regular  

incremental progression they have  

received increases “up to 42.38  

percent in the past five years”.  

Does this mean that incremental  

progression will be put on the  

negotiating table by the  

Government?  

The attack ignored the higher  

salaries and over award payments  

paid to private school teachers.  

The Government must ensure  

that there are funds in the State  

Budget to ensure pay equity and  

ensure that public school teachers’  

salaries are not undercut by the  

ever increasing handouts to pri-  

vate schools.  

The Government in its first  

term established very successful  

Pay Equity Inquiry. Removing the  

incremental pay barrier for casual  

school teachers and ending the  

excessive casualisation in TAFE  

colleges would be consistent with  

Government policy announced  

before the election. The Labor  

Council, however, has expressed  

fears that the second term Can-  

Government is going slow on  

implementing legislative changes  

to ensure equal pay principles in  

awards.  

Lobbying of all MPs must be  

intensified in the lead up to the  

June 22 State Budget and beyond.  

Make sure you have issued an  

invitation to your local MP to visit  

your worksite and that you have  

signed postcard.  

Sue Simpson  

is the President.  

Aquilina telegraphs  

his punches  

by Dennis Long  

Education Minister John Aquilina  

has attacked Federation’s salaries  

and status claim. An article in the  

May 27 edition of the Daily  

Telegraph said that “the State  

Government has taken hard line  

against teachers “and that Mr  

Aquilina “revealed more than 80  

per cent of teachers were cur-  

rently earning more than $54,000  

year”.  

The Telegraph article coin-  

cides with the release of pack-  

age of information to the ALP  

Caucus. Federation believes that  

the briefing of ALP members is  

response to the lobbying efforts of  

Federation members. Federation  

has asked members and associa-  

tions to lobby their local Member  

of Parliament. Federation  

Representatives have also been  

asked to invite MPs to visit their  

school or college.  

It appears that the figure of  

$54,000 is drawn from the brief-  

ing paper for MPs and includes  

superannuation (see accompany-  

ing story). However, the article by  

Kathy Lipari also has teachers on  

“the top of the scale” on “pack-  

age of almost $52,000” when in  

fact the rate for teachers on step  

13 at the top of the common incre-  

mental scale is $50,175 not  

including superannuation.  

Mr Aquilina is quoted as say-  

ing that Federation has presented  

30 per cent wage claim.  

(Federation’s claim is for 7.5 per  

cent per year.)  

“According to Mr Aquilina,”  

the Telegraph reported, “a 30 per  

cent wages increase would cost  

the community $654 million in  

the first year, rising to $3.6 billion  

per year in 2003.”  

The article said the current  

award for school and TAFE  

teachers is due to expire on June  

30 but that “the Government is yet  

to enter into extensive negotia-  

tions with the federation at this  

point”. TAFE teachers and school  

teachers have separate awards,  

however, the article is correct in  

that they expire on June 30 and,  

indeed, the Government has not  

entered into extensive negotia-  

tions.  

Dennis Long  

is the Editor.  

Education is not immune to casualisation  

by Brenda Seymour  

If you have read about the casual-  

isation of the workforce, including  

the increased employment of  

agency workers and assumed it  

was problem in the hospitality or  

entertainment and recreation or  

retail industries, then think again.  

The statistics indicating an  

expansion in the levels of casual  

employment in schools and TAFE  

are staggering.  

For schools, for example, there  

were 44,688 full-time permanent  

teachers in 1996 with 3877 teach-  

ers holding 2179 permanent part-  

time positions. This compares  

with 26,000 casual school teach-  

ers (1998 figures).  

In TAFE, based on 1999 fig-  

ures, there are 5000 full-time per-  

manent teachers and 97 perma-  

nent part-time teachers compared  

to 18,768 casuals. (Casual teach-  

ers in TAFE are misnamed ‘part-  

time/casuaT teachers.)  

At conference run by the  

Australian Centre for Industrial  

Relations Research and Training  

(ACIRRT) called Wages 1999,  

John Buchanan reported that  

workplaces using casuals had  

risen from 64 percent in 1990 to  

70 percent in 1995 and work  

places using agency workers from  

14 per cent to 21 per cent.  

Buchanan indicated more  

workplaces are reporting retrench-  

ments. He said that in 1995, 60  

percent of workplaces with more  

than 500 workers had experienced  

retrenchments, up from 39 per  

cent in 1990.  

The number of employees  

whose hours increased, but pay  

did not, was  

23 per cent of workers in 1995.  

Buchanan described it as radical  

continued page ~2  

 

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-689941534

APA citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. (1919). Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation Retrieved August 6, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-689941534

MLA citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation and New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation Sydney: The Federation, 1919. Web. 6 August 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-689941534>

Harvard/Australian citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. 1919, Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation The Federation, Sydney viewed 6 August 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-689941534

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=N.S.W. Teachers' Federation.
  | author2=New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation.
  | title=Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation.
  | year=1919
  | section=volumes.
  | issn=0013-1156
  | issue=Vol. 80 No. 07 (7 Jun 1999)
  | location=Sydney
  | publisher=The Federation
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-689941534
  | id=nla.obj-689941534
  | access-date=6 August 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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