TAFE agreement sealed: let’s prepare for the next

While TAFE enterprise agreements came into effect this week, collectively we have plenty of work ahead of us to ensure our members, and their students, are part of the best public vocational education system possible.

The marketisation of TAFE by successive governments has led to a dismantling of the public system and we must turn that around.

The approval of the TAFE Commission of NSW Teachers and Related Employees Enterprise Agreement 2021 by the Fair Work Commission on Friday, 15 October, brought the new enterprise agreement into effect on 22 October.

For that agreement, the nominal expiry date is 30 June, 2022, and to further explain the conditions, a copy of the new Teachers and Related Employees EA is available here.

For TAFE teachers and related employees, all existing conditions remain in place and they will now shortly receive the 2.04 per cent salary and allowances increase, along with back pay measured from the first pay period after 1 July.

The administrative arrangements permitting employees the ability to work a program in less than five days and perform five hours of offsite related duties will continue in the new EA. Click here to view the administrative arrangements. Click here to view correspondence from TAFE NSW to Federation confirming this continuation.

The TAFE Commission of NSW Teachers in Children Centres Enterprise agreement has also been approved and came into effect as of 14 October, 2021.

The nominal expiry date of the TAFE Commission of NSW Teachers in Children Centres Enterprise agreement is also 30 June, 2022. A copy of that agreement can be found here.

Members’ attention will now need to turn to the EA campaign for 2022.

To defend existing conditions and pursue salary justice in the next EA we have to build strong union membership.

Please talk to your co-workers and friends and invite them to join Federation. It is the most effective way of ensuring we defend and improve every teacher’s working conditions. To submit a membership application online click here.