Early Childhood Lifting standards across the early childhood sector
With the VECTEA and EEEA setting the benchmark for pay and conditions in early childhood, unions are working to ensure the work of all teachers and educators in the sector are properly valued.
Bargaining has commenced for both the Victorian Early Childhood Teachers and Educators Agreement (VECTEA) and the Early Education Employees Agreement (EEEA). These agreements cover a large portion of the sector across 22 local councils, early years managers, and standalone kindergartens. The VECTEA alone covers AEU members working for more than 380 different employers.
These benchmark agreements play a central role in attracting and retaining staff in the sector. With an estimated 11,000 more teachers and educators required over the next decade, as the state government continues to roll out and scale up two years of free kindergarten for all three and four-year-old Victorian children, maintaining professional pay and conditions is essential.
Early childhood members have been heavily involved in developing the log of claims and are now staying up to date about the bargaining process via online statewide member meetings, workplace visits, and network meetings.
For too long, the work of professionals in feminised workplaces such as early childhood education and care (ECEC) have been hugely undervalued.
Seeking wage justice for all
Across Australia, multi-employer agreements are rare. These allow employees and their unions to bargain with any number of employers, and members can take industrial action in support of their claims. Unions can also ask the funding body (including governments) to be involved in the discussions. The VECTEA and EEEA are two of the best examples – which is why they have set the standard for the early childhood sector overall. But, currently, there are serious inequities in pay and conditions between those working in sessional kindergartens and those employed to run kinder programs within long day care services.
In September, the Fair Work Commission handed down a historic decision, authorising the AEU, along with the United Workers Union, and the Independent Education Union, to negotiate a multi-employer agreement covering workers in early learning centres. This followed changes to the Fair Work Act in June 2023 that made it easier for unions to bargain for enterprise agreements with a group of employers.
For too long, the work of professionals in feminised workplaces such as early childhood education and care (ECEC) have been hugely undervalued. Wage justice is needed to address the low wages and obvious gender pay inequity in the sector.
This multi-employer agreement (MEA) provides an opportunity to set a new benchmark for around 15,000 teachers and educators who previously had little power to bargain for above-award pay and conditions. The unions are asking for a 25% salary increase and additional funding to cover important entitlements such as professional development and extra planning time.
Despite a commitment more than 12 months ago from the Albanese government, we are still waiting to find out how much funding they will contribute towards this national agreement. However, treasurer Jim Chalmers did announce that the government had made provision in the budget to increase wages for workers in early childhood, aged care, and disability.
The AEU, IEU and UWU will continue to meet with early childhood education and care providers while awaiting the Commonwealth’s decisions on funding for percentage wage increases and our other claims. The recent increase to minimum and award wages by 3.75% should be a positive contributor.
Once an agreement is reached, the unions will then seek to ‘scope in’ all remaining early learning centres with the aim of ensuring that all members in the EC sector are covered by a union-bargained agreement.
