United Workers Union plans walk off

By now you will probably have heard - via the mainstream media and other channels - about the potential industrial action later this year; the United Workers’ Union (UWU) has announced its plans to strike on Wednesday, 7 September 2022. 

This strike by the UWU has been planned to coincide with ACA's national community event Early Childhood Educators’ Day.

The purpose of the strike is to urge the Federal Government to urgently fund increase wages for early childhood educators in addition to the 4.6% increase in July 2022.

The threat of industrial action has implications for our children, our families and us as service providers, and in the coming weeks ACA will  provide specific advice on how to respond to employees who are requesting participation in an unprotected action.

As you would be aware, Early Childhood Educators’ Day is an apolitical day which encourages families and service providers to show their appreciation to their early childhood educators for providing a safe and inclusive, age-appropriate early learning environment for young children.

We hope that those of you who are planning to celebrate the day are not seriously impacted by this recent announcement. 

ACA has been actively engaging with the former, and the new Australian Government, along with other key stakeholders to solve the critical educator-shortage crisis. This includes advocating for solutions to the challenge of attracting and retaining high-quality candidates to our sector. 

We support any initiative that will drive more educators into the sector, on the specific assurance that it doesn’t negatively impact affordability for our families, who are already struggling with the rising cost of living.

ACA will continue to engage all levels of government to ensure that effective short, immediate and long-term solutions can be found to address the critical workforce issues and ensure that every child in Australia has access to high-quality, affordable and sustainable early learning services, regardless of their parents’ circumstances or where they live.

Should you have any immediate questions, please contact ACA NSW via 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au for industrial relations assistance.

SOURCE: ACA NATIONAL COMMITTEE

PUBLISHED: 22 JULY 2022