Workchoices cuts Teacher Pay Rates By 30%

"Wages rates published on the federal government's WorkChoices website would mean wage cuts of up to 30% for casual teacher employed in English Colleges across the country" said Independent Education Union (IEU) Assistant Federal Secretary Chris Watt.

"The wage rates published by the government are $12 an hour less than even the award rate that applied before WorkChoices and before the first supposed Fair Pay increase" said Mr Watt.

“These rates are an utter nonsense and show the abject failure of the WorkChoices laws to protect the working conditions of Australians” he said.

“What is even more absurd is that the IEU contacted the government’s WorkChoices hotline on numerous occasions when the first Fair Pay rates were published earlier this year because of major errors in assumptions and consequent incorrect wage rates.”

“At that time the response was to remove the published scales” he said.

“Now the new revised approach to calculating rates proposes that English College teachers employed either as casuals by the hour or on a daily basis should have major pay cuts” said Mr Watt

“The Howard government’s WorkChoices laws and authorities are a shambles.”

The IEU has already written to employers bound by the English College awards and provided them with what the union believes to be the correct salary scales.

English College teachers teach English to adult students whose first language is other than English.

[Attached: WorkChoices published rates, IEU calculated rates and 2006 Award rates]

Contact details

Chris Watt
Assistant Federal Secretary
Ph: 03 9254 1830

0419 259 143
ieu@ieu.org.au