NSW teachers to get new perks and payrise under major union deal

Teachers in NSW have struck a new pay deal that includes three extra pupil free days, a $1,000 cost of living payment, and flexible work arrangements after months of negotiations. 

The NSW Teachers Federation signed the wage deal, which includes a minimum pay increase of three per cent for the next three years, on Monday. 

The move avoided the potential of a damaging industrial dispute with the NSW Government.

Schools started late as tens of thousands of teachers engaged in the stop-work meeting to vote on the agreement.

Under the new agreement, teachers will be allowed flexible working arrangements and three extra pupil-free days at the start of term.

A $1,000 cost-of-living payment will also be provided if inflation rises to above 4.5 per cent for the state’s 95,000 public school teachers. 

Union president Henry Rajendra said the deal was integral to addressing teacher workforce shortages across the state.

‘The working conditions of our profession were very, very difficult,’ he said.

‘What we have now are wonderful opportunities where the employer, finally, after so many years, is offering the profession a genuine sense of respect.

‘Noting the gendered nature of the teaching profession, where 80 per cent of the workforce are women, we’ve got significant improvements in terms of leave and working conditions,’ Mr Rajendra said.

Flexible working arrangements might mean two teachers could split a full-time job in order to fill critical gaps in the workforce.

Schools were also left to fend for themselves for professional development opportunities under the previous government, the union said, but will now be given the tools and time to grow teaching careers.

The multi-year deal follows a major one-off pay increase for teachers that was agreed in September 2023.

It made many the nation’s best-paid for their cohort and included a 12 per cent boost in starting salaries to $85,000 a year.

Education Minister Prue Car said vacancies in public schools had fallen significantly since the initial deal was struck, while the government was also trying to improve working conditions to retain existing staff.

‘The things we’ve been able to collaborate on, we’re seeing results on,’ she said.

Salaries for teachers at the top of the pay scale went from $113,042 a year to $122,100 under the previously agreed increase.