Community preschool teachers have rallied in central Sydney demanding higher wages, warning some centres will collapse without more support.
On Wednesday morning, more than 200 pink-clad preschool teachers and staff from the Independent Education Union rallied near NSW Parliament House, calling for a 15 per cent pay rise ahead of the NSW budget in June.
The union has been asking the state government for almost two years to raise salaries, warning staff in community preschools earn up to 30 per cent less a year than their counterparts in schools with similar qualifications and roles.
Director of Gumnut Bowral Memorial Preschool, Meredith Wakeman, told The Daily Telegraph teachers in some areas are leaving the profession to clean toilets because they earn “a lot more” doing so.
Retaining preschool staff is increasingly challenging, Ms Wakeman warned.
“They’ve left the sector because they have to put a roof over their head,” she said. “They have to feed their families.”
In February this year, the Fair Work Commission recommended that the NSW government review and boost funding for community preschools to improve pay and conditions for teachers.
At a similar rally last year NSW Premier Chris Minns was accused of “misogyny” for withholding a pay rise from educators in the predominantly female childcare industry.
Donna Worner, a teacher at Kapooka Early Childhood Centre near Wagga Wagga, travelled five hours to attend the rally in Sydney.
She told the Telegraph that problems with attracting and retaining staff were becoming increasingly difficult in rural and remote areas.
“We have to compete with public schools, which pay their teachers 30 per cent above what we receive, and then we’ve also got the federally funded large daycare centres that pay 15 per cent above more than what we receive.
“Early childhood educators are just absolutely fed up with being paid so poorly and they are sick of having to come out and do this. We would much rather be delivering the best quality preschool care that we possibly can, rather than having to fight for every cent that we deserve.”
Asked what would happen if wages remained at the same level, Ms Worner said: “I think we’ll see the demise of community owned and not for profit preschools… We value our community assets and want the state government to value these community assets. We deliver a very high quality service at a very low cost.”
Several politicians also attended and spoke at the rally.
NSW Shadow Minister for Early Education Felicity Wilson told crowds the government must address gender pay inequity in community preschools.
“We need to see our community preschools supported and invested in to ensure that they can be retained into the future,” she said. “I’m so disappointed that the government’s not listening.”