
After four rounds of negotiations, employers in the childcare sector have failed to improve the pay increase offered at the beginning of November – a 10.15% increase over two years. The FNV trade union argues that this is insufficient to protect against inflation and deliver the level of pay that would help address staff shortages. The union claim is for a 12.9% increase over 12 months. At the beginning of November, the unions launched a petition, now signed over 15,000 times, to make it clear to employers that a decent wage increase is desperately needed to keep the sector attractive to work in. The FNV argues that the employers are seriously short changing their employees, but also the parents who use childcare with some facilities already having to close for lack of staff.