State school teacher aides, cleaners, and Department of Education staff have reached pay deals with their employer, with the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission certifying three new agreements covering more than 40,000 public sector workers.
The enterprise bargaining agreements were overwhelmingly endorsed, with the percentage of acceptance being in the high 90s.
Under the new agreements, teacher aides, cleaners, and school and corporate staff will receive pay rises of four per cent in year one, four per cent in year two and three per cent in the final year.
There will also be a cost-of-living adjustment payment for each year of the agreement (capped at three per cent) if the Consumer Price Index in the relevant year is higher than the base wage increase.
The agreements cover around 22,000 teacher aides, 7,600 cleaners, and 14,000 school support staff, staff in corporate offices, and the Office of Industrial Relations.
Teacher aides will have greater job security through the simplification and standardisation of working hours, be entitled to three dedicated professional development days per year, with increased payments for those providing interpretation services in languages other than English.
School cleaners will also benefit from greater job security provisions, along with a $25 fortnightly allowance for experienced cleaners, and improved accrued day off arrangements, including equity between part-time and full-time workers.
The agreement for support staff includes a new professional development allowance of $1,800 for health practitioners and social workers working in schools, and the existing school-based administration allowance will be increased in line with headline wage increases.
Staff in the Office of Industrial Relations will also benefit from enhancements to on-call arrangements, development of rostering guidelines, and commitments in relation to workload management and work health and safety.
