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<h2>South Auckland early childhood teachers and their employer, Early Learning Counties Manukau, are celebrating a bold new collective agreement that delivers significant progress toward pay parity with kindergarten and primary teachers.</h2>
<p>The pay gap between ECE teachers and their colleagues in these other settings has grown by as much as 49% over the past decade.</p>
<p>The collective agreement signed between the Early Learning Counties Manukau centres&#8217; teachers and their employer this week includes six pay steps that will put the teachers on the same salaries as similarly qualified and experienced kindergarten and primary teachers.</p>
<p>The agreement, which comes into force in September, anticipates the Government&#8217;s funding increases in January 2022 for employers who &#8216;opt-in&#8217; to paying their teachers in line with at least the first six pay steps of the Kindergarten Teachers&#8217; Collective Agreement.</p>
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<p>&#8220;We’re pleased we could come together as teachers to create a new collective agreement that includes and exceeds the Government’s pay parity steps&#8221;, says Amy Haigh, a teacher at ELCM Takanini.</p>
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<p>&#8220;Although there’s more work to do, this agreement provides a pathway toward properly valuing our work as ECE teachers &#8211; something our sector absolutely needs to do if we&#8217;re to address the critical shortage of teachers we currently have in ECE. As teachers, we hope this sends a positive signal to other teachers across the sector about the power of acting together in union to achieve better pay and conditions.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I appreciate that this is a step toward pay parity for our teachers, and we value being able to work with our teachers to achieve this progress&#8221;, says Calmar Ulberg, CEO of Early Learning Counties Manukau. &#8220;Recruitment and retention of ECE teachers is a challenge in the current funding climate and we are proud to be part of work towards improvements that ensure great teachers are attracted to the sector.&#8221;</p>
<p>The new collective agreement &#8211; the first in the ECE sector for many years &#8211; will take effect on 27 September 2021 for an initial term of two years. The teachers&#8217; new collective agreement also includes pay increases for more experienced teachers, and a second, separate agreement offered by ELCM recognises the important leadership role of centre managers within the organisation.</p>

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