State Wage Case delivers increases for TAFE members
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 129 No 4, 7 June 2024, page 23.
The QTU has welcomed the decision of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) in the State Wage Case 2023, which will result in salary increases for many TAFE educators.
On 10 May, the full bench of the QIRC published its decision and made the following orders:
"Except as otherwise provided in these orders, the wages or salaries for full-time adult employees in all state awards shall be increased by 5.75 per cent."
The above increases operate on and from 1 September 2023.
The full bench decision means many TAFE educators will benefit from some salary increases that are in addition to the front-ended COLA payments and annual salary increases agreed to in 2023.
While the ink was drying on drafts of our TAFE Queensland Educators Certified Agreement 2023, QTU officers were also working with the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) on the State Wage Case. The State of Queensland (Office of Industrial Relations) opposed any increases for employees who are covered by collective bargaining instruments like the TAFE agreement. The employers’ submission stated: “Where the wages payable to employees or classes of employees under those awards relevant to the state public sector have been settled through bargaining or by an arbitration determination of the Commission, the increase should be 0 per cent.”
The QCU application sought a 5.75 per cent increase in the Queensland minimum wage, which would match the 5.75 per cent increase that was achieved in the federal jurisdiction in June 2023 through advocacy led by the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
The full bench decision and inclusion of the 5.75 per cent increase applying to rates in the TAFE Queensland Award – State 2016 will benefit many TAFE educators, with affected salary classifications experiencing increases of between $39 - $72 a fortnight.