New South Wales public teachers will strike for the first time in more than a decade in response to a “statewide staffing crisis” caused by stagnating wages and an escalating workload, The Guardian reports.
The NSW Teachers Federation president, Angelo Gavrielatos, said a unanimous vote among council members passed on Saturday morning.
Principals will join with teachers on Tuesday, December 7 for the 24-hour strike, accompanied by a statewide advertising campaign to be rolled out on television, radio and print.
“Principals and teachers don’t take this decision lightly. Over the course of the last 18 months we have exhausted all options available to us to arrive at a negotiated settlement with the government,” Mr Gavrielatos said.
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The union had failed to successfully lobby the state government to lift a 2.5 percent wages cap that it said had contributed to decline in graduates. The number of vacant permanent positions in NSW schools had increased by 80% since June.
“We are facing a perfect storm: plummeting new graduate numbers, rising enrolments, an ageing workforce which spell out acute teacher shortages,” he said.
“If we don’t act now, workloads will continue to rise and salaries will continue to fall relative to other professions.”
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NSW Premier, Dominic Perrottet, said he had already made it “very clear” to the Teachers Federation that the government’s position remains that public servants in NSW get a 2.5 percent pay increase.
“I had a very constructive conversation with Angelo [Gavrielatos] yesterday in relation to the issues… and I said I would take them on board but ultimately this is a matter that will be brought to the Industrial Relations Commission — that’s where it will be resolved,” Mr Perrottet said.
“We need to have a fair and balanced approach; I understand some of their specific concerns and my commitment to them is that I will work through them as we go through the next 12 months.”
Source: ABC News and The Guardian.
