Educators In The Early Childhood Industry Call For A 25% Wage Increase

The federal government has been urged by the United Workers Union to provide funding for a 25% pay increase in this year's budget.

According to union representative Helen Gibbons, the sector-wide worker issue necessitated the wage increase.

As low as $24 an hour is possible, she claimed.

"An instructor told me the other day that she works full-time and that when she tried to seek a home loan, the bank informed her that she is living below the poverty level."

According to her, the poor pay was causing centres to make cuts and chaos for families.

The high cost of living is making it difficult for educators to make ends meet, according to Ms Gibbons.

As a result, turnover is at an all-time high and workloads are too heavy.

As part of a national workforce strategy guide, a collection of Australian universities conducted a study on how to support the early childhood sector.

While there is a greater need for child care in regional Australia, the sector has seen a high worker turnover rate.

Regional childcare facilities frequently struggle to fulfil the rising demand for care and are forced to hire more personnel.

Karen Thorpe, a child development, education, and care researcher at the University of Queensland, reported that she discovered 35% of early childhood instructors in urban areas leave their jobs within a year.

She claimed that nearly half of them left while they were in rural areas.

Even though they hold degrees, many are leaving to become truck drivers because they can make $60,000 in early childhood education and $100,000 as a truck driver, according to Professor Thorpe.

She said that a high staff turnover rate affected the growth of the kids.

Children's emotional stability and learning are both disrupted if they lose their relationship to their teacher, according to Professor Thorpe.

"Turnover disturbs the emotional environment that you have.

"Then you're hurting things like behaviour regulation,"

Tony Burke, the minister of industrial relations, stated that the government will not interfere with the results of any applications or negotiation processes.

This government is aware of the need of raising salaries, especially in low-paying, predominately female industries like early childhood education and care, according to Mr. Burke.

"We passed the Safe Jobs, Better Pay laws last year for precisely that reason.

The government considers it crucial that all parties, including unions and employers, pursue wage increases using the channels provided by the Fair Work Act.

Reference:
Early Childhood Educators 'Barely Able To Survive' On Wages As Workers Call For Action, ABC News Australia