TAFE Bulletin

TAFE & Adult Provision (TAP) Councillors have requested a bulletin be sent to all members advising that no agreement has yet been reached with the Brumby government over the issue of salaries for TAFE teachers.

We can report that negotiations for pay increases are still being worked through with the Brumby government. This is a complex process because four government departments are involved, along with employer representatives and of course the AEU. The question is constantly being asked of us how long will this take? We simply do not know. However, what we do know is the more pressure we can put on the State government through our rallying efforts outside politicians' electorate offices will mean the sooner we will get an agreement.

The union has been made aware that rumours are rife throughout the system about the state of enterprise negotiations. One rumour we heard was apparently a TAFE CEO claimed the union was wasting time and its members' efforts by conducting these 4 hour stopworks because a deal was being signed off within a day or 2--this was reported to us 2 weeks ago! We've even heard a deal has been done and you'll be getting your pay in January--absolutely NOT TRUE!!

The AEU wants to assure members that as soon as a pay offer has been made which the union considers to be worthy of consideration by TAP Council, we will be calling a Special TAP Council meeting to discuss the offer. If the offer is considered appropriate, the AEU will then, and only then, schedule meetings at every sub-branch for members to consider and vote on the agreement.

Rallies held to date are a credit to every sub-branch. We have had some outstanding media around these events which of course is what we are aiming for as well.

Some members have inquired whether they can attend the rally this Thursday 30 October outside Minister Jacinta Allan's office in Bendigo. If you do want to attend, the same circumstances apply as to any stopwork. You should advise your manager you will not be available for work and of course let your students know as well. If you are interested in travelling by train to Bendigo on Thursday for the rally, train departure times can be found on the VLine website www.viclink.com.au

The Bendigo rally will start at 10 am, or shortly thereafter. We are advised the train station is very close to the Minister's office so you should make it there within 10 minutes or so.

We are using bulletins, TAFE newsletter and our website to keep members' informed.

GILLIAN ROBERTSON
Vice President (TAP Sector)

ROB STEWART
Deputy Vice President (TAP Sector)