As members would be aware, negotiations with the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) for a new early childhood agreement (EEEA) began in May. For now, those conversations with MAV have now been exhausted. The next step is for the Department of Education and Training (DET) to become directly involved and help resolve our outstanding claims.
Although some good progress has been made, MAV has not adequately addressed our workload concerns and wages remains a key item of dispute. We have a significant amount of work ahead to achieve an EEEA that meets our objectives.
Meanwhile, negotiations with the Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA) regarding the Victorian Early Childhood Teachers and Educators Agreement (VECTEA) have been progressing well. At the time of writing, negotiations over the EEEA versus the VECTEA have diverged significantly.
We hope we can work towards our collective objective of attracting and retaining a quality workforce, with professional pay and conditions.
The most marked difference has been the way ELAA has engaged with some of our workload claims, including time for educational leaders and nominated supervisors and for professional development.
We have initiated conversations with the Victorian government to progress bargaining on outstanding matters and on funding, with pay parity for teachers, a significant pay increase for educators, and addressing workload the key issues that need resolving. We will be using the results of our workload survey in our discussions with DET and the state government to strengthen our case. Thank you to those members who participated in this research.
With almost 2000 responses, we have very strong and clear evidence of how excessive workload affects teachers and educators AEU leadership and our sector councillors will monitor the progress of the agreements negotiations and welcome the involvement of DET and the Victorian government.
We hope we can work towards our collective objective of attracting and retaining a quality workforce, with professional pay and conditions.
