The Australian Education Union (AEU) has moved to shut down a 14-month industrial campaign by Victorian teachers against the state Labor government of Premier John Brumby. Under the terms of a proposed three-year agreement announced by the union and the government on May 5, the teachers’ central demands—which included a 30 percent salary increase, a maximum of 20 students per class, and a significant increase in full-time positions to reduce the number of contract teachers—have been dropped. In return, teachers will receive a pay rise that barely keeps pace with inflation.

The sell-out has been met with an extraordinary barrage of publicity from the media, the AEU, and the state government.

Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said the agreement meant that “Victoria can continue to build its excellent education system and continue to attract the best and brightest into the teaching profession”. AEU Victorian President Mary Bluett publicly kissed Premier Brumby as she hailed the agreement as the best deal for teachers’ union members in more than fifty years. She later telephoned Liberal opposition leader Ted Ballieu to thank him for his support. An AAP report was typical of the media coverage:“After months of tough talking, the state government caved in and gave teachers the pay rise they had been after for more than a year”.

What a fraud! Victorian teachers have long been the lowest paid in the country and have worked in the most under-funded state system. The 30 percent pay claim, taken together with the other central demands on class sizes and contract teaching, would have only gone some way towards improving the situation. The AEU, however, has capitulated to the state government on the basis that achieving salary parity with teachers in New South Wales is sufficient—as if the Victorian teachers’ NSW counterparts were not also underpaid and overworked.

The full terms of the proposed agreement have not yet been released. Under the announced measures, senior teachers will go from earning $65,414 a year to $75,500, a 15 percent increase, while first year teachers will receive an initial 11 percent increase from $46,127 a year to $51,184. A one-off bonus of $1,000 for “most teachers” and $2,000 for principals is also included in the package. Unlike in previous agreements, pay rises will not be backdated to the start of the dispute. Instead they take effect from May 11—that is, before the union’s members have had the opportunity to vote on the deal. The AEU clearly wants to present it as a foregone conclusion and suppress any discussion or debate. The union’s refusal to release the full terms of the agreement only underscores its contempt for its own membership.

Full: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/aeu...

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