United Voice will defend attacks on early childhood workers' wages and conditions

United Voice will defend attacks on early childhood workers’ wages and conditions

A number of United Voice members, including Centre directors, have sent through copies of a notice they have received from a Canberra-based IR consultant which suggests that some small child care employers have engaged him to attack minimum modern award conditions for early childhood professionals, including educators.  He has referred to two modern awards, the teachers’ award and the Children’s Services’ Award, and to Fair Work Australia’s review of modern award in 2012.  

The notice has caused unnecessary concern in the sector.

The modern awards were a feature of the new Fair Work Act, which replaced John Howard’s Workchoices legislation. The FW Act led to the replacement of all Federal and State Awards with a much smaller number of common Federal awards.  It was a huge, controversial undertaking!

In childcare, it required the collapsing of many State and Federal childcare awards, in every State and Territory, into one smaller award. To ensure that the awards are operating in a way that suits everyone, Fair Work Australia is required to review all Modern Award, starting in March.

The review is likely to be mainly technical in nature, although some employer and union parties might seek to make application for wider variations, including matters of substance.

The IR consultant who has circulated  the suggestions that wage rates for NSW workers can or should be reduced as part of the review, that laundry allowances should be abolished, and that programming time should not be an award matter,  is a small, largely Eastern States advocate.  He does not appear to have the support of the major employer organisations which are representative of the sector.

United Voice reminds members that NSW rates were higher than those in other States because the Union won an increase in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission on work value and pay equity grounds at a time when Workchoices banned similar cases at a Federal level.

The Union fought successfully to keep these higher rates for NSW in the modern award.  We also won programming time in the modern award which was a win for some states and a retention for others.  We won the introduction of a laundry allowance into the modern award which was new for most states, and we lowered the cut off for junior rates. We won these benefits with superior argument and evidence.

United Voice will be making submissions in 2012 on a number of awards. These will be determined in consultation with Branches, delegates and members.  The Fair Work Australia review process is likely to concentrate on correcting errors, ambiguities and omissions and FWA will probably not agree to review, during the 2012 review, matters that were argued and arbitrated in the 2009 Modern Award-making process.  In any event,  United Voice will vigorously defend the safety net standards in the current Award against any attacks from employers.


Sue Lines
Assistant National secretary
5 December 2011