United Voice, the child care union has lodged an application for equal pay for early childhood educators with Fair Work Australia.

The application seeks to increase the wages of 68,000 early childhood educators working in long day care centres by around $10 per hour.

National President of United Voice Michael Crosby says early childhood educators are among Australia's lowest paid workers.

"The rate for Certificate III educators is just $19.07 per hour, approximately $10 an hour less than workers with comparable qualifications are paid."

"Our application is for appropriate increases which take into account educational levels and professional skills of staff. In the case of Certificate III educators it will equate to about $10 per hour," said Mr Crosby.

Mr Crosby says professional pay rates will ensure the early childhood education and care sector can attract and retain high quality staff.
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As of Tuesday 23 July, long day care services can apply for funding under the new Early Years Quality Fund.

The Australian Government established the $300 million Early Years Quality Fund to assist early childhood education and care Providers meet the new ratio and qualifications requirements under the National Quality Framework commencing in 2014.

Minister for Early Childhood and Child Care Kate Ellis said there are two assessment criteria to determine which services will receive money from the fund.

1. A demonstrated commitment to the implementation of the National Quality Framework and quality outcomes for children and
2. A demonstrated commitment to meeting the qualification requirements outline in the NQF.

Half of the fund has been set aside so that small early childhood education and care providers can apply for grants without having to compete with the larger providers.

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has said that applications will be assessed as received and allocated until the funding cap is reached. Funds will then be distributed accordingly.

This essentially means that if you are thinking about applying, do it sooner rather than later as funds will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

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