Thousands of early childhood educators can expect a pay rise before the end of the year when the final stage of the multi-employer bargaining application is set to be signed off today.
Roughly 12,000 early childhood educators across 64 providers will receive a 10 per cent pay rise before Christmas under a new government initiative aimed at attracting more people into the workforce.
It comes more than a year after the United Workers Union lodged an application with the Fair Work Commission to begin wage increase negotiations with a group of employer representatives. One the same day, the federal government’s Secure Jobs Better Pay legislation came into effect, allowing workers across multiple employers to bargain and make agreements as a group within the same industry.
The application was authorised by the Fair Work Commission in September last year. In August, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a further 5 per cent wage increase for childcare educators in December 2025. The announcement came months after the federal budget promised a 15 per cent pay increase, describing it as “justice.”
“Justice for the work that early educators do, not just in minding our children, because that’s not what they do. Yes, they mind them, but they care for them, and importantly, they educate them as well. Human brain development occurs more in the first five years than in the rest of people’s lives, and that is why this is so important.”
This week, the pay rise has received a positive response from United Workers Union Early Education Director Carolyn Smith, who believes it will help retain and attract current and future workers.
“Workers represented by unions, employers and the government have come together to bring this pay rise which is a game changer in terms of educators staying in the sector,” she told the ABC.
“We’ve had some real issues with the mainly women in the workforce leaving because the wages are so low.”
Smith added that educators from other parts of the sector, including 16,000 Goodstart employees, can expect to secure agreements in the coming weeks.