I'd like to hear from staff at some of the other Outdoor and environment centres around the state about how the MOA will affect them in their workplaces. I'm imagining that for some centres having an extra teacher will be a massive bonus as will receiving some payment (MTA) for the work that you do staying away from home overnight.
No doubt our union representative Kate Seed has done a fantastic job of listening to the various viewpoints and considerations from across the state and I know that there have been conversations and discussions among the OEEC principals for many years now. I'm particularly keen to hear the perspectives of the teachers on the ground about how this new agreement will impact on them.
A number of staff at MOEC are yet to vote on the MOA proposal and i'm fully aware that we are casting vote without much engagement or knowledge of what the circumstances and effects of that vote will be on other staff around the state.
At present at Maroon we already receive a MTA which has been in place here for many years and it has a rather obscure origin. It is aimed at compensating staff who work overnight on campout programmes with students. It is approximately $80 a fortnight. This is paid throughout the year and amounts to over $2000 per annum in benefits to the MOEC teaching staff.
If MOEC staff are paid for their campout nights according to the proposed MTA rates of $16.85 per night away from home this will amount to approximately $400 per annum for MOEC staff working under the new arrangment.
The balance that we have at MOEC at the moment with our current Time in Lieu arrangments and the current MTA works really well for our centre and our staff. If the proposed MTA is kept at the base rate of $16.85 per night for camping out with kids, this will significantly change the dynamics of our current and future working conditions.
Our exisiting MOEC staff who are currently being paid the MTA of $80 per fortnight will maintain that payment under the new MOA. This will create another layer of complication when staff are completing the same jobs under different conditions.
So in the interests of looking for a better deal for our future staff and in the hope of maintaining the current healthy balance at MOEC i'm inclined to vote against the proposed MOA. I'm hoping that others may be able to share how this proposed agreement will impact on them to help me make a decision that takes into account the impact of this agreement on all OEEC staff, not just our staff at MOEC.
Thanks for taking the time to have a read of this and i'm looking forward to catching up with heaps of our fantastic teachers at our next gathering.
I'm not sure of the ethics of using an Education Queensland discussion list for this type of conversation. I've started a blog with the contents of this email contained within if you would prefer to avoid the EQ network to continue this conversation.
Warm Regards
Mark Munnings
Yes Mark I do agree ,,I have no idea about how other staff from across the state feel. It would be really good to find out just what they are thinking. So let the opinions flow....
ReplyDeleteMark. I like the MOA. We don't get the MTA or have a formal TOIL agreement. The new staff member won't solve all our issues but it will go a long way towards allowing us to get closer to these goals.
ReplyDeleteComments sent via the email list by John. Thanks John for your input.
ReplyDeleteHello everyone.
I have been a staff teacher at Daradgee for over 10 years and currently am the attached Earth Smart Science facilitator. The views presented in a recent OEECSTAFF email have been discussed here and I would like to offer my view. This is supported by the DEEC teaching staff.
The OEECPA has been working towards a staff allocation methodology for most of the past 10 years. I have been kept informed of this and accessed for opinion and feedback by my principal at all stages. An agreed state-wide priority has been to work toward increasing teacher staffing to the Principal and 1 Teacher Residential Centres. This was to be done through the development of a staffing Allocative Methodology as part of the Memorandum of Agreement
Extensive ongoing discussion around Allocative Methodology Models has taken place with all of this information shared with centre staff through centre principals, the QTU and discussion lists. This has taken place over the past 3 to 6 years approximately. Recently via the QTU (Kate Seed), Education Queensland has indicated that an Allocative Methodology is not possible but an initial teaching staff enhancement of a 2nd teacher to all small OEEC's with teaching principals is possible. This is an injection of approx $1.4m to OEECs.
At Daradgee, we spend $87,000 each year funding a teacher to help support the centres programs. The Centre has supported a third teacher full time for at least 3 years and part time for a number of years before that.
This is fully integrated within the centre’s operations and while manageable is an onerous figure to recover. It presents significant, ongoing challenges to us and many other, similar centres.
With Education Queensland funding this teacher position we will be able to comfortably operate at a much more sustainable level. The most important fact is that the Centre will be better positioned to support all teaching staff in working towards the Teachers Award (including being able to access the ever growing quota of unclaimed TOIL owed to staff) as well as enabling the Centre to redirect funds into very important areas of facilities and program development and enhancement.
With regards to the Miscellaneous Teachers Allowance, our understanding is that all current MOEC teachers will retain their existing Miscellaneous Teaching Allowance arrangement i.e. $80/fortnight regardless of the frequency or volume of overnight/camp out activity. Those who come into MOEC post this agreement will only be compensated for their actual level of overnight/camp out activity.
This appears to be very fair and equitable as it will in the future apply to all OEEC teaching staff equally and as noted, current staff allowance will not be reduced. While MOEC have this existing and ongoing payment arrangement, it is an anomaly – as far as we know unique to the centre. EQ has stated that the only alternative is for this payment which Maroon receives be revoked. This will benefit no one.
In summary it is crucial that the Memorandum of Agreement be passed by the OEEC's. This agreement will bring on the significant benefits to Principals and Teachers at about 16 small centres as well as proving Miscellaneous Teachers Allowance equitable payments to all centres into the future.
Knowing the enormous effort and resources which have gone into getting to this position, this acceptance of the first Memorandum of Agreement will no doubt lead on to other, significant gains in future agreements.
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
Regards,
John Harrigan Stephen Cutuli Amanda Matthews
ESS Facilitator Experienced Senior Teacher DEEC Staff Teacher