This Friday’s planned teacher strike in South Australia (SA) has been called off by the Australian Education Union (AEU) after the state government’s revised offer of more than $1.3bn.
SA Education Minister Blair Boyer confirmed “a new offer from the government” meant the threat of industrial action in schools across the state this week had been removed.
“I met with the AEU twice last week, including a meeting with the Premier, and the discussions were very positive,” the minister said on Wednesday 11 September.
“The state government has today provided the AEU with a revised offer of more than $1.3bn. This offer does reward our incredible school and preschool staff with the improved conditions they deserve.
“We welcome the AEU’s decision to not proceed with industrial action as we continue to work together on a final agreement as soon as possible.”
Negotiations over wage rises continue
With the union asking for wage increases of between 5.5 and 8.6 per cent – almost 20 per cent across three years – the two parties are expected to continue negotiations this week.
But the government’s revised offer to the union, that included admin support for funding applications, as well as mentoring services for young teachers, was enough for the union to agree to call off planned strike action. The introduction of a clause that would give SA teachers the ‘right to disconnect’ was also part of the government’s negotiations with the union, Mr Boyer said.
“We recognise the rise of technology has placed pressure on staff to reply to queries from families outside of school hours, in addition to their daily duties,” he said.
The right to disconnect option would apply to communications from colleagues, school leaders, and families – although exactly how it would be enforced remains unclear.
“The clause is one of a range of initiatives the state government is putting forward in the agreement to reduce the workload of staff,” Mr Boyer said.
He said the “nub of the negotiations” had continued to be the union’s demand for a 20 per cent reduction in face-to-face teaching time.
Digital detox offers permission to ignore calls and emails after-hours
Teachers would have the right to ignore after-hours phone calls and emails as part of the latest pay and conditions offer from the state government.
Known as the ‘right to disconnect’, the policy would protect teachers from repercussions if they turned off their phone and did not respond until they returned to work the next day.
The legal right to disconnect has gained recent traction as the increasing pervasiveness of technology, combined with remote working arrangements, blurred the lines between home and office.
In 2017, France granted all workers the ‘right to disconnect’ by committing to provide legal protection if calls, texts or emails were ignored outside of work hours.
The deal made with Queensland teachers means educators there “are encouraged to disconnect from digital technologies and communications when accessing rest time, weekends, and leave/vacation periods, except in exceptional circumstances”.
Under the NSW in-principle agreement, only emergency phone calls and emails would be expected to be answered.
Recent enterprise bargaining negotiations have seen NSW educators secure the protection following the move to offer it to Queensland teachers in 2022.
“The clause is one of a range of initiatives the state government is putting forward in the agreement to reduce the workload of staff,” Mr Boyer said.
“We recognise the rise of technology has placed pressure on staff to reply to queries from families outside of school hours, in addition to their daily duties,” he said.
