South Australian public school teachers accept 3% annual pay rise plus better conditions after two strikes in 2023

The Advertiser newspaper in Adelaide made an issue of punctuation errors in signs carried by public school teachers in one of their two 2023 strikes with maraches through city streets to rallies on the steps of South Australian parliament house in North Terrace.
Images courtesy The Advertiser and ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News, Adelaide (by Che Chorley).

South Australia’s public school teachers in 2023 accepted a $1.6 billion pay deal from the state government after months of negotiations and two strikes.

Australian Education Union members voted to accept the boost to teachers’ pay by 13% over the life of the enterprise agreement. Teachers also got a 4% raise backpaid to May 2023, and a 3% annual rise over three years. It followed three previous offers that the union rejected, prompting two strikes and hundreds of schools being closed.

Australian Education Union state president Andrew Gohl said the offer was the “largest-ever investment in an education enterprise agreement”. He said that “those who were unhappy with the offer will certainly start to see a bit more detail come out and that will be useful in understanding how far we have actually pushed this government”.

South Australian state government education minister Blair Boyer welcomed the decision: “The offer is valued at more than $1.6 billion and takes into account salary and workload, key issues raised by the union. The package addresses the issues teachers and principals told us are important – pay, workload, classroom complexity and supporting country educators”. Teachers would also get an extra hour to plan lessons by 2028, $16 million each year to reduce administrative workloads for preschool directors, and three more days for mentoring early-career educators.

In November 2023, the union demanded a 15% pay increase over the enterprise agreement’s lifespan, that would have seen top educators get an extra $17,000 annually.

Gohl said full funding for public schools is the next logical step to ensure future agreements: “South Australia currently receives $121 million less than the minimum school resourcing standard which is responsible for some of the major concerns we have raised in this campaign. I say to governments both state and federal that. while this agreement takes practical steps towards addressing the current workload challenges, we are facing a national teacher shortage crisis that requires bold change and investment.”