School General Assistant pay anomaly

Executive, 23 June 2008

Report adopted (an update on the May report)

The PSA has been in negotiations with the DET to address an ongoing GA pay anomaly. At present a part time GA who works over 35 hours per week (but not 38) is paid more that his or her fulltime counterpart despite them both having the same access to other entitlements.

A meeting was held between the DET and the PSA on 8 May 2008. The DET predictably argued that there was no money to allow them to agree to the PSA's suggestion that all GAs be paid at the highest pay level in order to eliminate the anomalies.

The PSA have now offered an alternative solution which costs substantially less than the original. This is done by reducing the hours of full time employees without reducing their salary. The aim is to ensure that none of our members are worse off.

The DET response was to ask further questions regarding the second proposal and to outline inadequacies and flaws. The subsequent response from the PSA was to then ask the DET for their own solution to the problem they created.

At a meeting between Sue Walsh John Cahill and Michael Coutts-Trotter, the Director General of the DET, it was explained that using the PSA's original proposal it would cost $2.7 million. Mr Coutts-Trotter consequently asked for more information from his Department on the numbers of GAs by ages and pay category (full time/part time).

The issue has been handed over to Peter Riordan the Deputy Direct General for action and further discussions with the PSA.