What is multi-employer bargaining and what is Community Child Care Association's role?
Multi-employer bargaining (MEB) is a process that allows workers in the same industry, but spread across multiple employers, to negotiate better pay and conditions as a group.
In late 2022, new laws passed that made multi-employer bargaining possible for our sector – and we saw an opportunity to finally achieve fair pay for educators. We quickly got to work as part of a group of other peaks and unions negotiating the first-ever deal of this kind with the government.
In August 2024, the Australian Government made a 3.6 billion dollar commitment to a pay rise for educators and teachers!
Following years of advocacy, educators will finally have pay that better reflects the importance of their work. It’s a big step towards achieving access to high-quality education and care for children across Australia and we are proud to have been one of four sector representatives negotiating this landmark deal.
How can I access the pay increase for teachers and educators at my children’s service?
We’ve been representing not-for-profit early education employers in multi-employer bargaining negotiations since July 2023. We can represent any service that provides long day care and does not have a current enterprise agreement. Once the multi-employer agreement has been finalised, long day care services will be able to sign on – this will be the fastest way to meet the eligibility criteria. OSHC services can access an appropriate workplace instrument through NOSHSA, the National Outside School Hours Services Alliance.
Subscribe now – we’ll ensure your service is among the first to receive key updates and assist you to identify the best workplace instrument for your service.
Why is multi-employer bargaining for early childhood needed?
Tens of thousands of Australian children are missing out on quality early education and care. Low pay and poor conditions mean early childhood educators are leaving in droves and many children’s services are being forced to turn parents away. With multi-employer bargaining, we can improve wages and solve staffing shortages without increasing childcare costs for parents. This first agreement will set the sector up to continue to negotiate for better wages and conditions into the future.
What are the benefits of multi-employer bargaining for early childhood?
- Early childhood educators and teachers will be paid a fair wage that reflects their qualifications, skills and responsibilities
- Education and care providers can recruit and keep qualified staff, ensuring more families can participate in the workforce and fewer children will miss out on the proven benefits of early education
- The government funds the pay rise, meaning the cost won’t be passed on to families.
What was the multi-employer bargaining process that led us to this historic deal?
CCC Executive Director Julie Price at a Canberra press conference
- December 2022: The Australian Government passed its Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act, making it possible for early childhood services to bargain (negotiate better pay) together as a group
- June 2023: We, along with other peaks and unions, applied to the Fair Work Commission to negotiate under the new laws
- August 2023: At the Fair Work Commission, we obtained permission to proceed with the multi-bargaining process for early childhood services
- Early September 2023: We, along with two of our members, flew to Canberra to participate in a roundtable, presenting the case for multi-employer bargaining to the federal government
- Mid-September 2023: We were given permission to bargain by the Fair Work Commission
- May 2024: The federal government commits to fund a pay increase for long day care educators and teachers
- August 2024: The Australian Government confirms it will fund a fifteen per cent pay rise for educators and teachers in a 3.6 billion dollar commitment
- Ongoing: Negotiations continue. Keep an eye on Facebook and LinkedIn for updates or subscribe for pay rise news.
Julie Price with Hon Dr Anne Aly MP and Michelle Carnegie
Frequently asked questions
What did you ask the government?
We asked the government to fund a wages deal to fix the wage gap between education and care and other government-funded sectors, like aged care and teachers.
What progress has been made with multi-employer bargaining (MEB) and what are the next steps?
The Australian Government has made a 3.6 billion dollar commitment to wage increases for early childhood educators and teachers. The next step is to finalise the details of the multi-employer agreement. We’re committed to delivering this as quickly as possible. Make sure your team is amongst the first to benefit.
Will educators in outside school hours care services (OSHC) get the pay rise?
The Australian Government’s funding commitment is for educators and teachers in eligible Child Care Subsidy (CSS)-approved centres that meet certain conditions, including limiting fee increases and engaging staff through a workplace instrument, such as the long day care multi-employer agreement we have negotiated. As the Victorian peak for OSHC we’re advocating for fair pay for educators across the sector, not just those in long day care. The government has listened and access for OSHC providers is in progress through an equivalent workplace process.
My centre has a current enterprise agreement – what do I do?
Once a multi-employer agreement has been finalised we can help your service ensure its current agreement is equivalent and therefore able to attract government funding.
What is happening for Professional Childcare Standard services?
The Professional Childcare Standard (PCS) is an existing multi-employer agreement for community-managed long day care services in Victoria. The PCS currently includes some of the best pay and conditions offered for educators working in the community long day care sector.
To ensure PCS services are best placed to receive any funding from the government while maintaining its premium pay and conditions, we are working to ensure the new agreement aligns with the national process.
We will keep PCS services informed of the national process – you will be provided with all the information you need to understand your options and how you can benefit from government funding as soon as the details are finalised.
What is the difference between the award and a workplace agreement through multi-employer bargaining?
Awards are the legal minimum wages and conditions for employees in a specific industry. Workplace agreements sit above awards and must contain wages and conditions that are better than minimum award standards. Employers and employees make workplace agreements by directly negotiating together, either in a single workplace or across multiple employers. In this case, CCC and other sector representatives and unions are negotiating a workplace agreement to be funded by government on behalf of multiple separate employers.
