The Australian Education Union that has been tussling with the government over a new agreement for almost a year has withdrawn from negotiations saying the State government was proposing unfair changes.
What the Union has been most vocal about is its claim that the government wants to increase the workload of TAFE teachers by up to 20 per cent — from an average of 741 hours to 900.
Among other concerns are the government’s proposed deal of cutting penalty rates, increasing attendance requirements from 42 weeks to 46 weeks a year and the pay gap between Victorian and NSW TAFE teachers, which it says is an average of $10,000.
The state government, on the other hand, claims to have saved TAFE by voicing against the former government’s slashing of funding to TAFE.