WOMEN TEACHERS

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1932, Page 5

WOMEN TEACHERS

RETRENCHMENT TERMS. NEW SOUTH WALES PLAN. The Minister of Education for New South Wales, Mr. Drummond, states that a charge of hypocrisy had been levelled Against him in regard to the dismissal of married women teachers. “I am charged with having skilfully juggled with the word ‘retrench’ in the Act,” the Minister said, “and thus taken a technical point which will deprive dismissed teachers of any pension rights. This is a gross misrepresentation of the facts. If the Married Women’s Bill had not contained any reference to the terms of dismissal so far as they affect super- : annuation rights, the dismissed married women would have been entitled merely to a refund of their contributions. By defining the words ‘retirement,’ ‘retrenchment’ and ‘discharge’ in the Married Women’s Act, toe Government assured to the women concerned their full superannuation privileges. “The privileges are, in toe case of teachers of ten years’ service or more, a refund of double toe amount of their contributions, and to the women teachers of less than ten years’ service a refund of contributions; or a pension ifthe teacher concerned has attained the age at which her right to retire has accrued. In addition, toe Act provides for the payment of the monetary equivalent of any accrued leave of absence, and, in addition to these privileges, the Government has agreed to compensate on * liberal scale toe women