TAFE EB11 Bulletin No. 4, 2 May 2023 | Open PDF 

TO:  QTU TAFE MEMBERS 

Progress achieved towards recognising fairness  

We hope our QTU TAFE Division members had a happy Labour Day!

Yesterday, QTU members joined with workers from comrade trade unions that are registered with the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission and affiliated with the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) to mark Labour Day. The QTU and Together Queensland are the registered trade unions with a proud history of negotiating educators’ pay and conditions with your employer, TAFE Queensland.

Last week’s meeting of the single bargaining unit was productive, with progress made on the following recognising fairness components from our QTU log of claims:

• Commit to an award variation that recognises modern working conditions.
  • There is in-principle agreement on this item.
• Support educators delivering programs in rural and remote communities with pre-payment of travelling and relieving allowances.
  • Elected QTU TAFE Council delegate Chris Poppell joined the meeting and made a moving presentation that demonstrated TAFE teachers are the heart of great. TAFE negotiators are seeking instructions and this item will be relisted.
• Adopt measures to support workforce diversity.
  • TAFE negotiators advised that there measures will be launched during the negotiation period, with further advice provided on SPOT as well as in QTU EB Bulletins. The measures that were discussed were welcomed by the QTU, and we noted that the additional measures will be the subject of a future meeting of the SBU.
• Ensure cultural capability training is available for the entire workforce.
  • In-principle agreement was reached on this item, noting the intention to maintain clauses in the TAFE Queensland Educators Certified Agreement 2019. TAFE Queensland demonstrated resources that are available for educators, and there was also agreement that QTU’s BlackCard training is appropriate professional development.  
• Master product and PLCs.
  • Elected QTU TAFE Executive delegate Scott Green joined the meeting to provide his lived experiences of the workload pressures created by Master Product. TAFE and the QTU will be seeking more details from educators in the coming weeks.

On the same day that the single bargaining unit met, inflation figures were released that will trigger a cost-of-living adjustment of three percent for state school teachers and other public servants. Flaws in the Government Wages Policy mean that TAFE educators are not eligible for this payment, and there remains a financial gap between our claim for help to reduce cost of living pressures and applying Government Wages Policy to TAFE educators.

With no agreement reached, measures to reduce cost of living pressures will be relisted.

TAFE Queensland has 59 days to provide an acceptable offer in response to the QTU’s log of claims.

Authorised by:

Kate Ruttiman
General Secretary

 Authorised by Kate Ruttiman, General Secretary, Queensland Teachers' Union
21 Graham Street, Milton, QLD, Australia, 4064