Key Facts:
- Creche and Kindergarten (C&K) branch centre staff in Queensland are voting against proposed working conditions that maintain outdated provisions.
- Key issues include no additional time for kindergarten directors, who currently receive only 9 minutes daily to manage an increasing administrative and child protection regulatory load.
- The proposal fails to guarantee wages or super co-contributions will match the public sector.
- Outdated paid parental leave and long service leave provisions remain unchanged.
- The union warns this could result in C&K teachers earning less than public sector counterparts for the first time in decades.
Creche and Kindergarten (C&K) branch centre employees are voting no this week to the employer's plan to retain outdated working conditions for teachers and staff at over 140 C&K kindergartens across Queensland, says the union representing the employees.
The Independent Education Union – Queensland and Northern Territory (IEU-QNT) said C&K are proposing working conditions for staff that provide:
- No real action on the teacher workload crisis with kindergarten directors getting no extra time to do their jobs.
- No guarantee wages or super co-contributions will match the public sector.
- No changes to outdated paid parental leave provisions.
- No changes to outdated long service leave provisions.
IEU-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke said parents must understand what's at stake.
"C&K claims children come first but staff are being put last," Mr Burke said.
"You can't deliver quality early childhood education without quality working conditions.
"That's why C&K staff are voting no this week to a plan for outdated wages, outdated super, outdated paid parental and long service leave provisions as well as inadequate time for kindy directors to do their job," he said.
Mr Burke warned C&K's refusal to match future public sector wage increases could leave their teachers earning less than public counterparts for the first time in decades.
"C&K centre directors are also working under an intolerable administrative burden," he said.
"A director of a two-room centre gets just nine (9) minutes a day to manage an increasing administrative and child protection regulatory load – but C&K won't commit to providing more release time.
"With teachers abandoning the profession in record numbers and the gender pay gap continuing, C&K's decision to cling to outdated conditions is not just disappointing – it's blatant disrespect for a workforce made up predominantly of women.
"Outdated provisions show an employer that doesn't truly value its employees, no matter what marketing spin they might include on their corporate website.
"C&K staff and the children they educate deserve better," Mr Burke said.
