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Speaker 1: Know that teachers have indeed accepted the latest payoffer which

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Speaker 1: was put on the table by the Northern Territory government.

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Speaker 1: It's a three percent to increase each year over three years,

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Speaker 1: backdated to twenty twenty one. Now joining me on the

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Speaker 1: line to explain how it all played out and what

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Speaker 1: it means moving forward is Michelle Airs, who is indeed

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Speaker 1: the Australian Education Union's Northern Territory Branch president.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Michelle.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie, Michelle.

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Speaker 1: How many members voted in favor of the payoffer?

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Speaker 3: Oh, good question. There were around nine hundred odd members

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Speaker 3: slightly more than that, which represents sixty eight percent of

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Speaker 3: the number of people who voted.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 3: However, that is only around about a forty three percent

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Speaker 3: engagement rate across all of teachers, so it was a

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Speaker 3: fairly low voter turnout.

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Speaker 1: It's funny you say that, because I was speaking to

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Speaker 1: a couple of teachers yesterday and they had said to

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Speaker 1: me that they'd wanted to vote, but you know that

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Speaker 1: they'd gotten distract did obviously trying to do things with

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Speaker 1: their classes etc. And found it a bit difficult to

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Speaker 1: be able to do it, which I know, you know

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Speaker 1: it might seem a bit funny, but I'm assuming that

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Speaker 1: that's been the case for a few people.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean what it is to me is indicative

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Speaker 3: of you know, this is a third one of the

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Speaker 3: offers that has been put to teachers this year. It's

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Speaker 3: the end of the year. Teachers are burnout, tired, overworked.

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Speaker 3: The end of the year is at a crazy time

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Speaker 3: for teachers, really busy with school conferts and finishing up

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Speaker 3: assessments and transitioning kids to next classes and making sure

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Speaker 3: that everyone's got their reports, and so putting a vote

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Speaker 3: on in that time, although it might be you know,

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Speaker 3: the click of a few buttons, it's just one extra

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Speaker 3: thing to do, and I think that that is something

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Speaker 3: that the government really needs to think about.

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Speaker 1: Does the vote in favor of the offer, though, actually

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Speaker 1: mean that members are happy?

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Speaker 2: From your perspective, A.

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Speaker 3: Really good question. I don't believe that happy is the

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Speaker 3: best word for it. From the conversations I've had, the

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Speaker 3: people who voted yes were ready to settle for something.

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Speaker 3: It's been eighteen months since they've had a pay rise,

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Speaker 3: cost of living through the roof. They're going, hey, look,

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Speaker 3: three percent for October of twenty one, three percent for

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Speaker 3: October of twenty two means I'll get an immediate six

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Speaker 3: percent bump to my pay plus back pay. I could

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Speaker 3: really use that right now. Now. We would really like

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Speaker 3: to see those figures be a bit higher, potentially a

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Speaker 3: cost of living bonus or something in there to help

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Speaker 3: with the crushing CPI right now. And on top of that,

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Speaker 3: we really would have liked to see something that would

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Speaker 3: tangibly assist with the crazy workloads teachers are under.

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Speaker 1: So does this put it into the negotiations, Michelle, from

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Speaker 1: your perspective or not.

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Speaker 3: No, this definitely puts an end to the negotiations for

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Speaker 3: this agreement, and it puts an end to the industrial action,

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Speaker 3: and I guess that's the important one on the one

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Speaker 3: that your listeners would be most interested in. So now

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Speaker 3: the striking is done, Yeah, what happen and from here

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Speaker 3: is this agreement will be signed off in February or

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Speaker 3: March of next year. It's got a legal process to

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Speaker 3: go through first with fair work. Teachers will receive their

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Speaker 3: pay rise and their back pay then and then we

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Speaker 3: will go back to the table in twenty twenty four

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Speaker 3: for a new agreement. And that's the point when the

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Speaker 3: negotiations will recommence, and we'd be looking to get those

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Speaker 3: negotiations underway sooner rather than later so that we don't

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Speaker 3: end up in the same situation where we're eighteen months behind.

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Speaker 2: Michelle.

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Speaker 1: We've tried our best to get some clarity, of course,

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Speaker 1: around how exactly this pay rise is going to be funded.

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Speaker 1: You know, we were told by the Education Minister last

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Speaker 1: week that it's definitely coming out of Education Department funding.

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Speaker 1: But has there been much sort of further clarity or

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Speaker 1: anything formally from your understanding put to the schools at

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Speaker 1: this stage.

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Speaker 3: I am yet to hear of anything. That doesn't mean

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Speaker 3: that there hasn't been. As you said, you've had conversations

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Speaker 3: with different people where promises have been I'm still waiting

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Speaker 3: to see the follow through on that, but I know

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Speaker 3: that we've got organizations like COGSO on our side and

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Speaker 3: the NTPA there so we'll continue to work with and

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Speaker 3: pressure the government until we see extra money put into

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Speaker 3: school budgets because it's needed so that we can properly

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Speaker 3: run schools. In twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: Three, Michelle, do you expect that there is still going

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Speaker 1: to be some teachers though that will move to other states?

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Speaker 2: Where the pay is better.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, So I think there's two parts of that question.

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Speaker 3: First of all, with the finding of this new agreement,

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Speaker 3: pay in the Northern Territory will go back to being

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Speaker 3: marginally more than around the country, at least for now.

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Speaker 3: We should go back to being the highest paid in

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Speaker 3: the country, which will help with recruiting teachers to the territory. However,

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Speaker 3: it is December, it is the middle of December. A

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Speaker 3: lot of teachers have already made their plans for twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty three, whether that's teachers who are leaving their territory

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Speaker 3: or teachers in our the states who have taken other

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Speaker 3: jobs already. So it will be really interesting to see

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Speaker 3: the like how that fact plays into this and where

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Speaker 3: we end up, you know, the start of twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: So do you reckon that parents can sort of take

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Speaker 1: confidence knowing that classrooms are going to be adequately starved

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Speaker 1: next year or do you think that we're going to

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Speaker 1: see some gaps?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, another good question. I think that we're going to

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Speaker 3: have to wait and see, really and when it comes

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Speaker 3: down to classrooms being adequately starff this is only one factor.

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Speaker 3: I think that classrooms in the Northern territory haven't been

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Speaker 3: adequately start for years. Education in the Northern Territory hasn't

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Speaker 3: been well funded for years. I think we've talked a

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Speaker 3: little about that in the class, and this is another

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Speaker 3: hurdle that we're going through. We've been through a pandemic,

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Speaker 3: We've been through, you know, multiple hurdles have been through,

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Speaker 3: these costs of living things. Is teach a shortage? This

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Speaker 3: is something else that we're going to have to figure out.

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Speaker 3: And I think the teachers that are there and are

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Speaker 3: in the terror are throwing themselves in so hard to

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Speaker 3: make sure that kids don't miss out and that those

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Speaker 3: parents kids really get what they need, the best education possible.

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Speaker 1: Well, Michelle Is I really appreciate all your time throughout

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Speaker 1: the year, and please keep in contact with us over

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Speaker 1: the Christmas break let us know how things are tracking

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Speaker 1: for early next year, particularly once school is due to resume.

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Speaker 1: I'll be really interested to see you know whether we've

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Speaker 1: got a number of vacancies or how it's all looking.

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Speaker 2: But thanks so much for your time. Hope you have

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Speaker 2: a great Christmas.

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Speaker 3: Thank you heaps, Katie, and Merry Christmas to your listening.

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Speaker 2: Thank you