Hundreds of IEU members rallied across the state to demand the NSW government provide funding for fair pay in its June budget.
Sydney’s Martin Place became a sea of pink on 6 May as IEU members rallied to call on the NSW government to fund pay rises for community preschool teachers and educators.
IEU members travelled from as far as the Riverina, Hunter Valley, Wollongong and Newcastle to attend the rally held near NSW Parliament House.
Dressed in bright pink Start Strong Pay Fair campaign t-shirts, members sent a strong message to the NSW government to take their demands for fair pay seriously.
“Preschool teaching: Lowest wages are just the beginning …” read one sign, styled like a Bunnings advertisement. Another read: “We educate, we care, we deserve to be paid fair.” Yet another read: “We educate the future. Fund the present.”
Rallies in Lismore and Coffs Harbour also attracted hundreds of IEU members, parents and supporters determined to ramp up pressure on the NSW government in the lead-up to the June budget.
IEU members in action!
Gender-based undervaluation
The IEU has been calling on the NSW government for almost two years to fund pay rises that properly value the work of preschool staff.
“There is a systemic, gender-based undervaluation of this highly feminised workforce,” said IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Acting Secretary David Towson.
“To start addressing this, community preschool staff need a 15% pay rise.”
Staff in community preschools earn up to 30% less a year than their counterparts in schools with similar qualifications and roles, and 15% less than their colleagues in long day care centres.
In February this year, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) recommended that the NSW government review and boost funding for community preschools to lift pay and conditions for teachers and educators.
“The umpire has spoken – we urge the NSW government to listen to the FWC’s recommendation for increased funding to fix acute staff shortages caused by inadequate pay and conditions in community preschools,” Towson said.
NSW MPs speak out
Politicians from across the political spectrum also spoke at the Sydney rally.
Upper House Greens MP Abigail Boyd told the crowd that community preschool staff were chronically underpaid because the workforce is overwhelmingly female.
“This is driving a workforce crisis that threatens this vital sector,” she said. “The Fair Work Commission has said the NSW government needs to fund a pay rise for these early childhood workers, but the government continues to refuse to budge.”
Independent Barwon MP Roy Butler said there were 31 community preschools in his vast electorate that covers almost half the state.
“These grassroots institutions provide care, education and a sense of community for children, giving them a great start in life,” he said.
“Unfortunately, these preschools are under threat because the government has raised the pay of staff in government schools but refuses to fund a pay rise for independent preschool staff.”
Shadow Early Education Minister Felicity Wilson said the government must address gender pay inequity in community preschools.
“We need to see our community preschools supported and invested in to ensure that they can be retained into the future,” she said. “I’m so disappointed that the government’s not listening.”
Wilson later questioned Education Minister Prue Car during Question Time in the NSW Parliament, asking when the state government intended to increase funding for community preschools.
Car said the NSW government was “looking” at the funding of community preschools following the Fair Work Commission’s recommendation in February.
She said community preschool teachers and educators “deserve a pay rise”.
However, Car claimed that a lot of community preschools “have the ability right now to give this pay rise” – contrary to the findings of the FWC.
Loud and proud in Lismore and Coffs
More than 100 IEU members, parents and supporters braved wet weather to march through Coffs Harbour’s city centre as part of the Start Strong Pay Fair campaign.
IEU member Kerrie Stichbury, a teacher at Toormina Community Preschool, told 7News the low pay had forced some staff to leave the sector.
Nationals leader and Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh on Facebook offered support for the campaign for pay rises for community preschool staff.
I want them to know I stand with them,” he said. “You teach, you care, and you deserve to be paid fairly.”
An estimated 200 IEU members, parents and supporters also rallied in Lismore on 6 May.
Byron Bay Preschool director Bridget Isichei told the Lismore App the NSW government needed to increase funding for community preschools to pay fair wages.
“Community preschool teachers are paid less than their counterparts in public preschools and long daycare settings,” she said. “It’s urgent that the NSW government increase funding to support community preschools to pay their teachers and educators fairly.”
More in the media
The rallies received extensive coverage on radio, television and in print.
Acting Secretary David Towson told ABC Sydney the NSW government needs to provide funding for pay rises for a workforce that is predominantly women. He said the pay disparity made it difficult for many early childhood centres to attract and retain staff who could earn more elsewhere.
IEU members told moving stories to the media about how the long-term gendered undervaluation of their work had led to staffing shortages and threatened the viability of their centres.
Donna Worner, a teacher at Kapooka Early Childhood Centre near Wagga Wagga, drove five hours to rally in Martin Place.
Donna told The Daily Telegraph that problems with attracting and retaining staff were becoming increasingly difficult in rural and remote areas.
“Early childhood educators are just absolutely fed up with being paid so poorly and they are sick of having to come out and do this,” she said.
“We would much rather be delivering the best quality preschool care that we possibly can, rather than having to fight for every cent that we deserve.”
East Maitland Preschool director Jodie Cox told 2NUR FM that community preschools faced an uncertain future if the NSW government did not boost funding.
“We’re finding that preschools are starting to have to cut their budgets and are operating at a deficit,” she said. “So, they’re having to charge families more and more fees as well.”
Next steps – Invite your MP to a pink morning tea
There’s only a few weeks left to make an impact before the state budget is finalised.
Remind your preschool how important your preschool service is to your community.
Invite your MP to a Pink Morning Tea at your centre this June.
Image Gallery: Sydney Day of Action
Image Gallery: Coffs Harbour Day of Action
Image Gallery: Lismore Day of Action
Published in the June 2026 edition of Newsmonth.
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