14 JulELAA CEO Update 14 July 2021
Welcome to the first edition of ELAA’s eNews for Term 3 2021. Our CEO, David Worland, is taking a well-earned break, so this eNews is brought to you by the Acting Co-CEO (Advocacy), Megan O’Connell.
ELAA was pleased to start Term 3 with the approval of the Victorian Early Childhood Teachers and Educators Agreement 2020 (VECTEA 2020) by the Fair Work Commission on 13 July 2021.
This Agreement has been negotiated by ELAA with the Australian Education Union and United Voice and has taken in ELAA member feedback to assist with interpretation and new clauses. I would, again, like to thank the ELAA Industrial Relations Reference Group members for their guidance and input throughout the process.
The VECTEA will rightfully position the community-based Early Childhood Education and Care sector as an employer of choice due to the superior wages and conditions. With the early childhood workforce facing a shortage of qualified workers, we’re hopeful that the incentives in VECTEA will attract more people to consider roles in Early Childhood Education and Care.
Workforce
ELAA continues to advocate for members to ensure we can access, and keep, a highly skilled workforce and thank you to ELAA members for supporting our submission to the Victorian Workforce Strategy . I was pleased to have a highly productive meeting with Minister Stitt last week to raise issues in our workforce submission and solutions that our community sector is leading. ELAA looks forward to hearing more about support for the workforce as the Victorian Government’s strategy is finalised.
We are keen to continue collecting data on how workforce shortages are impacting services and what can help – if you haven’t completed our joint survey with CCC and CELA please do so today. Your feedback will help us to ensure your voice is heard at a state and national level.
Vaccinations
We are continuing to hear from members about the importance of vaccinations. We raised this issue in our advocacy to Victorian and Commonwealth ministers several weeks ago, and it featured in our state and national submissions. In our joint meeting with CELA and the Parliamentary Friends of ECEC co-chair, Patrick Gorman, this week we discussed how the issue of vaccinations is impacting our workforce, with CELA noting the concerns of educators operating in NSW where the Delta strain is present in younger children. We will continue pressure to prioritise the early childhood workforce for vaccination.
All the best
Megan O’Connell
Acting Co-CEO (Advocacy)
