Press Conference - Sydney

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Thanks everyone for coming along today on what is a very special day for early childhood educators and child care centre operators right across Australia. For many years now, early childhood educators in our country have been grossly undervalued and not paid the amounts of money that they deserve for the very important work that they do for our children, for our communities, for families and for our economy. And today, I am very pleased to say that the early childhood educators standing behind me are about to get an early Christmas present, having now signed and lodged the very first supported bargaining agreement reached under the Albanese Government's new workplace laws. What today's agreement means is that at least 12,000 early childhood educators right across the country, working for over 60 different employers, in child care centres and other establishments right across the country, those workers from this month will be receiving a 10 per cent pay rise, with another 5 per cent pay rise to come next December. Now, in dollar terms, for a typical early childhood educator in Australia, the pay rise they receive from this month is going to be about $103 per week extra in their pay packet.  And by next year, when the second phase comes through, it will be a pay rise all up of $155 per week.
 
We know that times are really tough for Australians at the moment.  So many people are doing it tough with cost of living pressures. And that's why from the day we got elected the Albanese Government has been working really hard with unions, workers and employers to create a bargaining environment that sees wages rise again. And it is really pleasing to see this latest example of Australians' wages rising again so that they can deal with those cost of living pressures. Now, I know that if you speak to these educators behind me, they will still say that times are still tough for people but having that extra $100 to $150 a week in their pay packets is going to go a long way to help with those grocery bills and all the other bills that people face.
 
It will also be really important both for the workers and the centre operators - the employers - to enable greater retention of staff. What we've seen over the last few years is that because wages of early childhood educators have fallen so far behind many other occupations, we have seen educators leave in droves to go and take up employment in other sectors. Now, what these pay rises mean is that more early childhood educators are willing to stay in a sector they love working in, but up until now haven't been able to afford to still work in. So, this is great news, of course for the workers, but also for the employers who want to keep their centres operating and continue to offer a high‑quality early childhood education experience for the families that have their kids there.
 
In closing, before handing over to some other speakers, I want to really congratulate everyone who has been part of this agreement.  As I say, this has been a very long‑running campaign from the United Workers Union and their members, early childhood educators, to get the pay rise and to get the respect that they deserve for the really important work that they perform. But, of course, we couldn't reach this agreement without employers being willing to come on the journey, to take a bit of a chance and sign up and reach agreement to an agreement with the workers and the unions. So, this is a genuine partnership that we've reached between government, between the union and its workers, and between centre operators and employers, everyone coming together in a cooperative agreement to deliver pay rises that are very necessary with cost of living protections in place for families as well, so that fees don't rise more than they should.  This is a great day for early childhood educators, but it is a great day for the centre operators and Australia as a whole.
 
I'll hand over now to Jo Schofield, who is the National President of United Workers Union.  We'll then hear from Michele Carnegie, from CELA, representing the employers in the sector and, finally, we'll hear from one the educators - probably the most important people here today - to tell you about what this will mean for their cost of living into the future. Thanks very much and congratulations to everyone who has been involved.
 
JO SCHOFIELD, NATIONAL PRESIDENT UNITED WORKERS UNION: Thank you, I am Jo Schofield, National President, United Workers Union.  This is truly an historic moment, something that has been hard fought for such a long time, by so many educators past and present. It will deliver a Christmas present, an immediate 10 per cent wage increase to over 12,000 educators.  And it's transformative for the sector.  It is transformative because it will boost the pay of some of the lowest paid people in our economy, predominantly women workers, working in early childhood education doing such vital work for our economy and for our community and, most importantly, for our next generation of our children. It will also create some much‑needed stability in the sector.  We know educators are leaving the sector in droves, walking away from a job that they love because they just can't afford to stay. So, this pay rise will put a brake on that.
 
And it will help to build the kind of quality early learning and education framework that is so important in this country.  Having a stable, well‑paid, professional recognised workforce is the most important ingredient in a quality education framework for the early years. So, I'm just so pleased to be here today with our members, past and present, so many members of the United Workers Union have fought for so long for this change.  And I just want to shout out to them and acknowledge their persistence and their hard work over such a long period.
 
Finally, I want to thank the Labor Government.  Women have had so many brakes on our ability to bargain, to campaign for wage justice over generations.  And it is the new laws, the Same Job, Same Pay laws that were introduced by the Labor Government that have unlocked this opportunity for sectors, such as early childhood education and care, and hopefully many more to come, that will help level up women's pay and put them on the same footing as many other workers in our economy.  So, thank you.
 
MICHELE CARNEGIE, COMMUNITY EARLY LEARNING AUSTRALIA: We used the multi‑employer bargaining process to deliver a significant pay increase to early educators and teachers working in long day care and out‑of‑school hours care right across Australia. This is only possible because peaks, government, unions and service providers came together. Service providers that are located in regional areas run by community‑managed committees, large providers and small providers. They all made this possible because they came together, because we all believe that professional pay is critical to the success of this sector. So, now services right across Australia will have the opportunity to be able to retain staff and to recruit staff and pay them properly.  Families and children will have access to quality early education and care that they truly need everywhere across Australia.  This is truly a transformative process.  And it is a really special day.  And we are very proud to be a part of it.
 
LISA BONSER, EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR: This is such a monumental day for myself and all the educators that are standing behind me.  It is something that has been a long time coming.  It is going to make such a huge difference to so many educators throughout the whole of Australia.  It is going to mean that we can actually stay in the jobs that we love. A lot of educators actually put their own hand in their own pocket at times to have resources and things for the children. And it just means now we are going to be able to give back so much more to these children.  It is such an exciting time.  And this is just the first big step for big changes that's going to happen in the future in early education. It's now been recognised by all of Australia to understand that we are an early education system, not just day care.  And it means a lot to myself, and same for the educators behind us, it is going to make a huge difference having that extra money in our pocket, it means I can actually book myself a holiday. That’s really exciting so thank you so much.
 
JOURNALIST: There’s been a 12% spike in serious incidents in daycare centres across Australia in the 2022-23 financial year, compared to previous years. Is our training for early educators not up to scratch? Things like children being injured, lost, unaccounted for, does their need to be better training for our early educators?
 
MICHELE CARNEGIE: Across Australia, early education and care is a highly regulated system and with really strong levels of qualifications that are currently present across the system. And I think what we are going to see as a result of this really significant moment, we're going to see a lot of young people who are considering to choose early education as a career. That's now possible for them because of this professional wage.  And we're going to see a lot of experienced educators return to the sector because they can now afford to work in the sector.
 
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
 
MURRAY WATT: I think the reality is that every centre in Australia and every early childhood educator does the very best they possibly can to deliver a safe and high‑quality service to the kids that they care for and that they educate. Of course, today's pay rise will provide an added incentive to these educators to stay working in the system and will make it easier for centres to staff those centres at an appropriate level.  And that can only be a good thing for the kids who receive their education there.
 
JOURNALIST: Has training ever been brought up to you, Minister, in terms of early education?
 
MURRAY WATT: Look, my primary role as the Employment and Workplace Relations Minister has been to work with the union and employers to ensure that a fair pay rise can be delivered and can be funded by the government. Of course, there are other Ministers within our Government who focus more on the training programs.  What I will say is that one of the other initiatives of our Government has been to deliver Free TAFE courses for those who want to take them up. And early childhood education and care is one of the highest areas of demand for people taking up those Free TAFE courses.  So that is another encouraging sign that the will is there from people to do the training required to deliver this service.  But now what's also happened is that people will be receiving the pay rises they need to make it viable for them to stay in this workforce going forward.
 
JOURNALIST: What are people telling you about underpaying childcare workers, what are the issues being caused by it?
 
MURRAY WATT: I think each of us can probably say something on that.  From the educators' point of view, certainly the message that we consistently heard was that the wages that early childhood educators were being paid just weren't enough for them to be able to survive and pay their bills. And from today that changes. From today, these educators will be receiving a much higher wage than what they have in the past.  And for the first time, in a long time, they will be truly valued for the important work that they do. So, certainly, the ability to keep up with cost of living has been a major issue for educators.  But I know from the centres' point of view and the employers' point of view, the ability to retain staff, rather than have them leave so that they can seek a better wage elsewhere.  But Jo and Michele would probably be able to add to that as well.
 
JO SCHOFIELD: I'd just reinforce that.  I mean, one of the things that educators tell us consistently is both their passion for the work that they do, we know how important it is.  We know that investment in the early years is very determinative of a child's future.  So, we know all of that as kind of factual evidence.  So, you have quality framework, people who are doing work that they love and wages that are just poverty wages.  And what's happened is that's led to many women having to leave the sector they love.  And we're hopeful this will get them back and also put the sector on a much more stable footing into the future.
 
JOURNALIST: Jo, can I just ask, do you think there is any link between a rise in serious incidents in centres and the workforce pressures?
 
JO SCHOFIELD: We're not aware of any rise, any correlation in that.  In fact, we've been on a journey in this country for the last sort of 20 years to develop a quality‑learning framework to bring in qualifications and professionalise the industry through training. This pay increase is now the last piece of that puzzle. 
 
MURRAY WATT: I will just add, I think Michele acknowledged that the way this is being delivered is through what's known as a multi‑employer agreement, and what that involves is a union, or unions and their members coming together with a whole range of employers across an industry rather than just having an agreement with individual employers. Now, this was the result of some really important changes the Albanese Government made to our workforce laws that were opposed by Peter Dutton and the Coalition. And it is those laws and the changes we've made that have resulted in this pay rise being made possible and by working cooperatively between employers, workers and unions. That's the way that industrial relations should happen in our country.  That's the way it is happening under a Labor Government.  And it is very disappointing to see Peter Dutton and the Coalition say that if they are elected they will get rid of this kind of agreement making. If Peter Dutton and the Coalition had their way, these educators would not be receiving the pay rise that they are getting today, and these centre operators would not be able to have the workforce that they need to deliver the important service they provide.
 
JOURNALIST: So this union was the first to use the supported bargaining provisions, and one of the senior officials from UWU said they supported the provisions, they have been great, but they would like to see some improvements, such as being able to bargain with employers that have got an in‑term agreement.  So, you have got 60 employers here, might be 80, 90, 100. Would you be willing to consider sensible changes that might improve the system?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, we are obviously going through a process at the moment of reviewing the laws that Labor brought in.  And we'll continue to do that as the various laws reach their 12‑month point. We'll be open to suggestions from everyone about that, but I think the key point today is that it is this form of multi‑employer bargaining, which has enabled these pay rises to occur. The changes that we made to the law removed a lot of hurdles that were previously in place that stopped multi‑employer agreement happening.  There are some people, whether it be in the Coalition, or some peak bodies, that are saying multi‑employer bargaining has got to go. Well, if it goes, then these sorts of pay rises go as well.  And this is the very worst thing you could possibly be doing to working people during a cost of living crisis.
 
JOURNALIST: Supported bargaining has been used in publicly-funded sectors, The SDA has used the system to go for McDonalds franchises and McDonalds HQ is trying to knock it out.  The ACTU has intervened in support of the union, do you say it should be used only in publicly‑funded areas or more broadly?
 
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, so the way we structured the laws around multi‑employer bargaining basically provide for different types of bargaining to happen in different types of sectors. What's happened in this case is what's known as supported bargaining and that was primary directed towards lower paid industries, typically feminised industries that haven't had the pay that they deserve, and it is great to see that come off here. But there are other types of multi‑employer bargaining available, whether it be in particular companies that share different kinds of interest, in franchise operations like what you are talking about. I think the bottom line is that as a Labor Government what we wanted to do was introduce a bargaining system that allowed wages to grow again.  We had 10 years of Coalition Government which deliberately kept wages low. It is no wonder so many people are struggling when their wages were kept low for 10 years.  And that wasn't working for employers in this sector either because they were losing staff hand over fist.  So, it is terrific to see the changes that we've made getting wages moving again. We've just had the National Accounts figures come through today.  And obviously it shows that the economy while growing is still quite weak.  And it shows that people are doing it tough at the moment.  That is why we need these wage rises to continue.  And that's why Labor's changes to the law were so important.  And it is why Peter Dutton and the Coalition have to re‑think their opposition to these kinds of things that are helping Australians earn the wages they deserve.
 
JOURNALIST: Will you intervene to back the ACTU and the SDA in the McDonald’s agreements?
 
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, I haven't decided to do that at this point in time and I haven't formed an intention to do so.  It is very rare for a Federal Minister to intervene in a case before the Fair Work Commission. What we've obviously tried to do is design a system that's fair to all sides, employers, unions, workers so that they can then get into the Commission have those discussions, have those debates and hopefully reach agreement, which is what we've been able to see here.
 
JOURNALIST: Speaking of intervention, are you inclined to intervene in the dispute with Woolworths?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, obviously I have been following the dispute at Woolworths very closely.  And you will have seen in today's newspapers, I have spoken, and my office has spoken, in recent days with both parties, Woolworths and the United Workers Union. As the Government, our position is very clear, that we'd like to see this dispute resolved as quickly as possible.  That would be good for the workers involved, so they can get a pay rise.  It would obviously be good for Woolworths as well and it would be good for consumers to make sure they have a certainty of supply. I see that the matter is now before the Fair Work Commission, and I think that is a positive thing.  So, obviously now the Fair Work Commission has the ability to help resolve this dispute and bring an agreement forward, and that would be a good thing.