Equal pay for Equal work

Conditions of Service for ABET Educators

Earlier this year, a task team was established to address Conditions of Service (COS) for ABET educators.

Representatives from the Department of Education, South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA) and the Suid Afrikaanse Onderwysers Unie (SAOU) came together to develop a draft collective agreement that will be tabled at the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) later this year.

We spoke to David Diale of the National Department of Education, Fikile Hugo, chief negotiator for SADTU, and Rodney Veldtman, Assistant Director of NAPTOSA about the draft agreement and what the proposed changes mean for our sector.

What is the current status of ABET educators?

ABET has never been seen as an equal to mainstream schooling. Currently the bulk of ABET educators are employed on a contract or casual basis with very little job security and without the benefits that mainstream educators take for granted.

How will things change?

The Educator’s Employment Act makes allowance for three types of posts: full time, part time and contract employment. There has been a growing demand for full-time employment of ABET educators. However, only a few centres work on a full-time basis, and the bulk of school-based centres simply don’t have sufficient learners to justify the employment of full-time educators. In other words, full time employment is simply not feasible for the bulk of ABET educators. Instead the draft agreement looks at shifting the majority of educators from casual to part-time appointments. This change offers ABET educators greater job-security. They will be paid
regularly on a monthly basis eliminating long delays while claims get processed.

What about benefits?

Part-time educators will also qualify for a range of benefits on a pro-rata basis including annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, medical aid and pension. However, part-time educators will not qualify for housing subsidies as the Public Service Act stipulates that this benefit only applies to full-time employees. The draft document also recognises the importance of ongoing professional development and makes allowance for 40 hours of professional development per annum which
places the onus on the Department to improve in-service education and training.

How will these changes benefit the sector?

These changes should lead to a significant improvement in educator morale which in turn will enhance stability and service delivery at ABET centres. Less time will be spent addressing administrative problems (such as lack of payment) and officials can focus their attention of curriculum development and teacher training.

What happens next?

The draft document will be tabled at a Head: Committee meeting at the end of August. Once it has been approved by the provincial and national Heads of Education, the Director General will give a mandate to the DOE negotiating team.
Negotiations at the ELRC should be fairly straightforward, as (thanks to the work of the task team) there is already a fair amount of consensus amongst the negotiating parties. If the collective agreement is signed later this year, then we should
be looking at implementation at the start of the new financial year in 2006.

However these changes to Conditions of Service have major financial implications for the provinces who will have to carry the costs of implementation — and, according to Rodney Veldtman of NAPTOSA, these budgetary constraints may well
prompt provincial ABET Directorates to resist the proposed changes at Head: Comm.

What can we do?

It is therefore vital that we bring these issues out into the public arena and throw our weight behind the proposed changes, so that provincial ABET directorates feel compelled to approve the draft agreement at the next Head: Comm meeting.
It is also important to remember that Conditions of Service are only a small part of a much broader picture. Once Conditions of Service are finalised, we can also start to address some of the other issues that limit service delivery such as the lack of
effective teacher training and learner support materials.

For more information on Conditions of Service, read the article by Ivor Baatjies.