The Minns Labor Government has caved under union pressure to sign a one-year deal with the Teachers Federation, driving the NSW Budget further into the red with unfunded wage offers.
Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said the deal is another example of a broken election promise by the Minns Government.
“Before the election, Chris Minns promised that public sector wage increases wouldn’t cost anything – they would be paid for with productivity offsets,” Mr Speakman said. “Now we know that the Labor Government promises to its union bosses will cost the NSW Budget billions of dollars, and the Government has yet to tell us which programs, services and infrastructure will have to be cut,” Mr Speakman said.
Shadow Treasurer Damien Tudehope criticised the Treasurer for not revealing the true cost of this deal with the Teachers Federation, which is tipped to exceed over $1.4 billion over four years, in addition to the cost of any future wage increases.
“The Government seems to be confused about exactly how much this offer will cost, because they have a Treasurer who just makes things up as he goes along,” Mr Tudehope said.
“This Budget won’t be worth the paper it’s written on because we know that Labor will give into every other union’s demands, no matter the expense.”
Shadow Education Minister Sarah Mitchell called for more certainty for teachers into the future.
“We all want the best outcome for our teachers, but there is a serious concern here about what will happen in 12 months when a new deal will have to be negotiated”, Ms Mitchell said.
“The union was adamant that 2.5% in the years ahead was not enough, so Labor needs to come clean about what have they promised for future years and what price they will pay to deliver those promises.”