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TAFE members and the AEU
TAFE is the foundation of vocational education and training – and as the spate of rorting and scandals by private providers shows, when governments refuse to appropriately invest in TAFE, Australian students pay the price.
Negotiations for a new enterprise agreement have commenced, and the AEU is confident of securing another single, state-wide agreement for all standalone TAFEs, with improved wages and conditions.
The AEU has a strong track record of major wins for TAFE teachers in Victoria – evident in the 98% “Yes” vote in the last Multi-Enterprise Agreement. Major achievements for TAFE members include:
- A single, state-wide agreement with the same terms and conditions applying to all TAFE teachers in standalone TAFEs.
- Successfully defeating the Napthine Liberal government’s attempt to “divide and conquer” TAFE with an individual agreement for each institute.
- A $2,000 sign-on bonus for all fixed-term and ongoing teachers (pro rata).
- 2.5% salary increase for all teachers employed at the date of certification.
- Another 2.5% salary increase on July 1, 2016.
- Protection of workload (there was a threat that teaching loads could be increased from 800 hours up to 1200 hours).
Our campaign: Allocate 70% of public VET funding to TAFE
The Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector is in crisis – and our highly-regarded TAFE system is too precious to lose.
Successive Victorian state governments have moved to dismantle public TAFE institutes across the state.
It began with the introduction of ‘contestability’ for funding. Contestability meant that for the first time, TAFEs were forced to compete against private training providers for government funding. Many of those operators offered low-quality training, demanded high fees, and paid their teachers a pittance. Importantly, their primary aim is to turn a profit. By contrast, the TAFE system has always been about providing the best quality education for anyone who wants it.
Over the past few years, Victorians have been shocked by scandal after scandal in the VET sector, as the private operators find new and ingenious ways of systematically rorting billions of taxpayer dollars.
In the meantime, many young Australians looking to get skills and training for jobs have instead been saddled with huge education debts they cannot pay, and training certificates that are worth nothing.
Throughout all this, TAFE teachers have continued deliver high quality education for young Australians in the face of rising workloads. TAFE remains very highly regarded by the community. It's time our state governments acknowledge that high regard.
Come join us at TAFE4ALL, the AEU campaign to force the state government to end the rorts and exploitation of vulnerable Australians by committing 70% of public funding to TAFE via web, Facebook or Twitter.
