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With over 665 centres nationally and more than 15,000 employees, Goodstart said it had been working with union delegates to keep all its centres open, but supported educators attending rallies and their calls for a wage rise.<\/p>\n
“Early childhood educators and teachers should be paid wages comparable to government schools, because both sectors are equally important to children’s learning and development,” Goodstart CEO Julia Davison said, noting that vacancies in the workforce were twice pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n
“Goodstart will continue to advocate for fairer wages for educators funded by government, and we thank the many business, union and policy leaders who have supported that call.”<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the federal government believed a partial solution to the issue was through its push for collective bargaining, an issue raised at the recent jobs summit.<\/p>\n
“We’ve been talking about multi-employer bargaining because in the feminised sector, bargaining is broken, it doesn’t work, and they haven’t been getting the pay rises that they should be getting.<\/p>\n
“We want early child care educators to be well-paid and we think the answer to some degree lies with making sure the bargaining system works for women.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BY TIM LAMACRAFTTHOUSANDS of early childhood wor […]<\/p>\n