Who does this Agreement cover?
PSUWA (Public Sector Unions Wages Agreement)
- All non-teaching staff except Groundspeople and Cleaners (Education Facilities Attendants – EFAs)
- Includes: Teacher Assistants, SBMs, Admin, Canteen, IT Technicians, Network Support, Youth Workers, Library Technicians, Laboratory Technicians, Aboriginal Education Officers, Bus Attendants, etc.
What is an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA)?
An EBA is an agreement between union members and the employer, the Department of Education, that defines and protects your wages and working conditions.
Your EBA, the PSUWA, and the Tasmanian State Service Award determine how much you are paid, your leave entitlements, hours of work, conditions at work and a range of other entitlements and protections.
Agreements are usually in place for one to five years or until a new one is in place. They are negotiated by your Australian Education Union (AEU) representatives before being voted on by all members covered by the Agreement.
The current situation
The current Agreement expires on June 30, 2022, but will continue to operate until a new Agreement is in place.
Salary increases normally occur in the first full pay period of December, but a new Agreement is needed to achieve a salary increase in December 2022.
This Log of Claims guides your AEU negotiation team in bargaining.
Unlike the Teachers Agreement, there are several other unions involved in PSUWA negotiations.
How can I help?
Become a campaign champion – we need members talking to members about the bits of the Log of Claims that will make a difference to you and members in your workplace – Teacher Assistants talking about the need to reduce stand down, all ESP talking about the need for salary increases that are competitive with other states and catch up with cost of living increases, Laboratory and Library Technicians talking about the importance of their work, etc.
Talk to your colleagues and talk to your school communities – our working conditions are student learning conditions so everything we are fighting for benefits our students and communities, as well as members.
Contact support@aeutas.org.au to get involved.
Log of Claims summary:
- Maintain all existing salary and working conditions
- Annual wage increases
- • Development of a Transfer Policy (rather than referring to Teacher Transfer Policy)
- Bus driving duties to have additional training and additional allowance paid
- Laptops supplied for all who don’t have access to a dedicated computer
- The addition of ‘Special leave’ provisions as per Teacher Agreement
- Cost of WWVP check paid by DoE
- Improved access to Professional Learning in paid time
- Incentives to assist those working in isolated schools
- Increased in-class support and professional support staff, e.g. Teacher Assistants, Education Support Specialists, Social Workers, Speech and Language Pathologists, etc
- Establish safe class size limits
PSUWA
- Progression towards ending stand down
- Improved access to the additional 3rd paid week
- An additional 4th paid week
- Additional annual leave
- All new positions to be advertised at minimum 42 weeks
- Paid recess breaks
- Increase to Toileting allowance to $30 a week and centrally funded
- Toileting allowance paid to all TAs working in Kinder and Prep
- Increase to Health Care Procedure allowance to $50 a week
- Health Care Allowance for undertaking Speech and Language, Auslan, Physiotherapy programs and working with students on a meal plan
LIBRARY TECHNICIANS
Recognise Diploma qualification (as with ESS)
LABORATORY TECHNICIANS
- Tighter guidelines to ensure schools employ according to recommended allocation
- Access to TOIL in recognition of additional hours
- Plus much more!
What is a Log Of Claims?
A Log of Claims sets out the issues that members want addressed in their next Agreement and how they should be changed. It guides your AEU negotiation team in bargaining.
- Maintain all existing salary and working conditions for AEU members.
- Increased in-class support, including access to professional support staff:
- Additional in-class support, such as classroom Teacher Assistant (TA) time, to support classroom teachers with large class sizes or a complex class cohort.
- Increased Teacher Assistant, Education Support Specialist (ESS), School Psychologist, Speech Pathologist, Occupational Therapist, Library Technician, Social Worker and Youth Worker positions (1:500 staff:student ratio for School Psychologists, Social Workers and Speech and Language Pathologists).
- Increase Support Teacher positions to assist classroom teachers with student assessments, educational adjustment documentation, learning plans and managing T.A. duties.
- Establish class size limits for subject areas where venue density and/or OHS concerns exist eg. Manual Arts, Food Technology and Science laboratory work.
- Annual wage increases that make Tasmanian salary scales competitive with other states and territories.
- Salary packages must attract and retain quality Education Support Personnel and Allied Health Professionals with the recognition and respect our professions deserve.
- Progress towards all Education Support Personnel (support staff) being paid for 52 weeks of the year, including:
- Improved access to third additional week of work by removing requirement that it must be worked within school time, not holidays.
- The option of a fourth additional week of work (for an annual total of 44).
- Clearer definition of duties to be performed during additional weeks of work.
- All new permanent ESP positions to be advertised as a minimum of 42 weeks per year.
- Increase recreational leave to six weeks per year and/or increase rate paid on recreational leave.
- All public holidays to be paid, where they fall on normal work days, including those in term breaks.
- Paid morning recess breaks.
- Cost of Working With Vulnerable People registration to be paid by employer as ‘tool of trade’.
- Increase Toileting Allowance to $30/week, and:
- make payment compulsory for all TAs working in Kindergarten and Prep,
- ensure allowance is accessible to all TAs providing support with toileting,
- define ‘regular’ in clauses relating to Toileting Allowance to remove confusion on entitlement.
- Increase Health Care Procedures Allowance to $50/week, and:define ‘regular’ in clauses relating to Health Care Procedures Allowance to remove confusion on entitlement.
- Central DoE funding of all Toileting and Health Care Procedures Allowances (not out of school budget).
- A new allowance for undertaking Speech and Language, Auslan and Physiotherapy programs.
- Allowance for bus driving duties that recognises additional training and responsibilities.
- A new allowance or update to list of ‘Health Care Procedures’ to cover working with students on an ‘meal plan’ (supervising student eating due to potential choke hazard or similar).
- Laptops supplied centrally to all Education Support Personnel and Allied Health Professionals without access to a dedicated computer.
- Development of a ‘Transfer Policy’, by a working group of union and employer representatives, that improves on ‘Placement Policy’ by recognising distance from home as well as hours and income for TAs.
- ‘Special Leave’ as available under Teachers Award covering serious illness of a near relative, state/national level sport participation, court appearances and emergency services obligations.
- Improved access to Professional Learning in paid time, including individualised learning options, for all Education Support Personnel, including relief staff.
- Introduce an attractive incentives package to assist isolated schools to recruit and retain staff, including:
- ‘Paid time to attend to urgent personal business’ leave for staff at Isolated Schools, as per Teachers Agreement.
- Ensure first-year Education Support Personnel and Allied Health Professionals receive paid time prior to commencing duties to attend a specialised professional development induction program provided centrally by the DoE.
- Develop a clause for automatic and direct translation process to increasing permanent hours.
- Provide a Support School allowance and Tier Four Engagement allowance for staff in these settings.
- Paid Reproductive Health and Wellbeing Leave to recognise events and life stages that are not illnesses but that require paid time to manage.
- Leave provision and support for First Nations cultural activities inside and outside of schools and a review of the effectiveness of current DoE First Nations policies and initiatives.
- AEU representation at all levels of a review into the moderation of educational adjustments, providing immediate solutions to workload issues arising from documentation required to attract funding for students needing educational adjustments.
- Improved parental leave provisions that are in line with best practice, provide greater family flexibility and address gender inequality and discrimination.
- Increased paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave.
- Encourage greater consultation with AEU members.
- Review Award and Agreement to make a range of improvements and additions required to promote gender equity and diversity.
- Review of Award and Agreement to improve Workplace Health and Safety and modernise clauses.
Library Technicians
- Recognition of Diploma of Library and Informative Services qualification as Diploma in Education Support is recognised for Education Support Specialists.
Laboratory Technicians
- Tighter guidelines to ensure schools employ Laboratory Technicians as per the recommended allocation.
- Access to Time Off in Lieu for additional hours, to be taken in Term breaks.
