Support from families as educators join UWU National Day of Workplace Action

Freya Lucas

Jul 26, 2023

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Members of the United Workers Union (UWU) working in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector will participate in a National Day of Workplace Action today in a bid to secure a Federally funded pay rise.

Along with calls for a 25 per cent wage increase, to be funded by the Government and not parent fees, protestors are seeking a stronger representative voice for educators in the workplace.

Thus far, UWU Deputy Director Early Education Sarah Gardner explained, “the Federal Government has not made a clear commitment to come to the bargaining table willing to fund any pay increase resulting from negotiations.”

“That’s why today educators are taking action nationally, with a range of activities across the country, using the day to engage with parents and have honest conversations about how the current workforce crisis is affecting educators and children.”

For Canberra-based parent Thomas, who has two children attending early learning services, the exit of qualified staff from the early childhood education sector, which he sees as being primarily due to wages and conditions, is “extremely concerning”.

“Passionate staff can no longer live sustainably without significant wage increases. With other sectors, such as aged care, receiving a justified and necessary wage increase to cover the cost of living and move the base wage to a reasonable level, the industry is haemorrhaging staff for other opportunities,” he said.

“To ensure we have enough staff to provide this essential service for Australian families, the Government needs to respond to the sector’s call and increase the wage of all our early childhood educators.”

A number of actions will take place at service-level today, including photo pledges, letters to local MPs, a stand down of documentation going out to parents, and other initiatives designed to draw attention to the issue.

The Union will also launch a ‘Crisis Tracker’ later today to map the way in which the number of vacancies and the rate of turnover in the ECEC sector is affecting educators and parents.

“Centres are already providing eye-opening details about the workforce crisis, pressures on staff, and wait times for services for families,” Ms Gardner said.

Victorian Centre Director Caren supports the tracker, saying: “We have lost over thousands of educators from the sector over the past year alone. Many centres have had to close rooms or their whole centre because they don’t have enough staff to safely open. If we cannot care for children, parents cannot go to work and the whole system breaks down.”

The impact this attrition has had on educators was highlighted by Canberra-based Educator Leane who has worked in ECEC for over 18 years.

“Prior to COVID-19, it was unheard of for a service to ring families to tell them they didn't have enough educators to meet the ratio that day, so they would have to keep their children at home,” she said.

“This is now becoming a regular occurrence in early learning services across the country. Early childhood educators are feeling undervalued and burnt out. I've seen and heard discussions from educators who are being refused sick leave because there isn't anyone to cover them, educators who are expected to eat their lunch in the room with the children and forgo their lunch breaks because there is no one to cover them. Educators are leaving the sector in droves.”

“The Government claims that there are over 70,000 families locked out of the childcare sector because it is unaffordable, so they have increased the childcare subsidy. This is great for families and a move that the sector supports. However, my question is, how is the Government planning to address the ECEC sector crisis to support this influx of new families? We don't have enough educators to support more families, let alone the families we currently have.”

To learn more about the National Day of Workplace Action, see here.

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