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School support workers to fight wages cap

Thu 13 Aug 09 Comments (6)

Education Assistants, cleaners and gardeners in Western Australian state schools have launched their media campaign to support their EBA negotiations and fight the government's wages cap.

The campaign will include state wide television, radio and print advertising to highlight the important role school support workers play in educating our kids.

"This government thinks our members will roll over and accept their offer of 44 cents an hour." Dave Kelly, Secretary LHMU

"LHMU members will not accept such a poor offer while the state government is inflicting an extra $1000 per year in bills and charges.

"At $35k per year education assistants are already some of the lowest paid public sector workers.  Similarly cleaners and gardeners are essential to the education system and keep schools functioning."

Brett Clements, head cleaner at Mount Lawley Senior high school said that one of his team, who earned $17.60 an hour regularly walked to work from Belmont because he could not afford to put petrol in his car.  Another had to decide whether to forgo petrol or medication.

 "It is pretty hard to stomach the government's 2.5% wages offer when they have offered other public sector workers much higher wages since the economic downturn began.  The Premier is making it very clear that he expects the lowest paid to bear the brunt of the down turn."  Dave Kelly.

The launch will also feature the "Fairness Truck", a giant mobile bill board which will be driving around Parliament House and marginal seats for the duration of the campaign. 

To find out more about the campaign visit our web site:

www.kidscantlearnwithoutus.org.au

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Comments

Mon 05 Oct 09  |  Brett Clements
Come on all you members, like I said at the launch, "we are the heart and soul of the schools"
Lets show this treasurer but, doesn't know or care what we do, how or if we can pay our bills.He also doesn't care about our security because between him and Liz Constable they are tossing the security agreement between the DET & the LHMU that we worked on for YOUR Safety and we were promised it would be rolled out by this year just another promise broken.
We are a formidable team if we STICK TOGETHER this fight wont be easy but, nothing worthwhile ever is.
Remember this man in a few years time when we can get rid of them.
Brett Clements
Mt Lawley SHS








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Mon 05 Oct 09  |  Chriss Goninon
I am an Education Assistant and I love it, I have 3 jobs just to get by, I do just as mush as the teacher as I am Special Needs with two children in my charge, I am also the main Aide in the classroom so I don the lot. I go from school to my other two jobs, our wage is disgusting and it is about time we were recognised for exactly what we do. I am no longer in the union because I simply cannot afford to be. I don't go to the doctor or the dentist and I don't go on holidays.

Mon 05 Oct 09  |  Denese Kelly
The work of Education Assistants has changed hugely over the last decade. Education Assistants are required to perform their duties at a much higher level. Directly educating children. Especially those with more challenging behaviours or difficulty in learning.
This means an Education Assistant is often more educated about childrens individual learning requirements than teachers.
More than ever Education Assistants deserve a decent and real pay rise. How are these mostly women to pay mortgages and run family homes if they are not paid a fair wage?
Stand together!!! Stand strong!!!
Education Assistants deserve a fair rise. 2.5% is not even keeping up with inflation. Let alone the expected rise in the work requirements.
Pay a decent rise. Negotiate with our team

Sun 01 Nov 09  |  Danielle
I'm appalled at the attitude of the govt towards the backbone staff in our primary schools! As a parent our family will stand behind you all 100%!

Solidarity!!

Thu 05 Nov 09  |  Stefan Karlsson
Well, more news then! I am a 1.0 full time employed education assistant with two children in my care as single parent and I work 65hrs a fortnight earning $32k/year. That's not $35 as stated.
I am educated to a level equal to a cert. 3 or cert. 4 for this job. I am directly responsible for one on one education of children with special needs and for groups in a general setting, allways providing professional assistance to the work at hand with children, ie: Their personal hygiene; emotiona/psychological well-being; social skill; safety; academic education; emotional skill; kinetic skill and body awareness, among a lot of roles that would otherwise be asked of a parent. For this I have to be understanding of children's physical and emotional growth processes and age appropriate behaviour. I need to have a good amount of different strategies for different kind of problems arising with children, to assist their development in a positive way. Have written and verbal communication skills, to follow through and act, on a number of levels. Ie: teachers, psychologists, parents, care takers, state representatives, agencies, nurses etc. In a regional setting I can only imagine the workload and responsibility greater.
How can that be treated as something like a 'tokenly' payed volonteer who comes in and reads a book with a child now and then? Or someone who makes sure the school grounds are maintained or a class room clean. And in fact, maybe they are even paid more.... correct me if I'm wrong. (I haven't done the correct research yet, but I am hearing things by my collegues....)
Education assistants have a direct responsibility and contact with all students either on a one to one basis or as a group, often without a teacher present. Many of us have high academic skill and degrees and have a life time of professional and life experience behind us. Why are we regarded so poorly? and why are we in the group 'school support workers' when we clearly have much more direct educational responsibility with the children than a cleaner who works after school hours and gardeners who never spend time in the classroom?

Stefan Karlsson
Hollywood Primary School

Mon 16 Nov 09  |  Tracey
Yes the role of the Education Assistant has changed over the years. I am directly responsible for one on one education of both special needs students and students with learning difficulties such as dyslexia and auditory processing difficulties often without a teacher present.

I Work in a high school where a teacher may only teach a student for one hour a week, this means I am more aware of the individual needs of the student than the teacher, More often than not this means I have to modify the teachers lesson to suit the student or write a lesson plan to suit the student as the teacher doesn't know how to accommodate a student with autism/ dyslexia etc in a mainstream classroom.

I liaise with teachers,nurses, doctors, psychologists etc which enables me to provide the best possible education for students. I provide risk assessments for students with disabilities going on excursions, I provide social reports to parents, I write up reports on students progress on the school data base, I make resources for students to assist their learning, all this is expected and yet I get no DOTT or preparation time, I consistently work through an unpaid lunch or recess to complete these tasks, I do this because I love working with children and want to provide the best educational experience for the students I work with. I feel Education Assistants at all levels are the forgotten educators.

I also ask why are we in the group 'support workers' when we educate children? this just does not make sense to me or many other Education Assistants!

A last word. A lot of Education Assistants are employed .2 fte this means that the rise offered - 44c per hour should just about cover a take away coffee, this is just an insult to these and other dedicated educators.



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