New South Wales聽public and Catholic school teachers will stage a historic joint 24鈥揾our strike on June 30 over pay, staff shortages and a mounting workload.
It has been more than 20 years since the聽NSW聽Teachers Federation (NSWTF) and the Independent Education Union of Australia (IEUA) have taken joint action. The unions say it is a direct result of the state government and Catholic education employers鈥 鈥渕anifest failure鈥 to deal with the education crisis.
The decision to take strike action follows the NSW budget to limit wage rises for all NSW public sector workers to 3% in 2022鈥23. This is a wage cut for public school teachers and it will flow through to the independent school sector.
NSWTF president Angelo Gavrielatos told聽the June聽21 Sydney Morning Herald: 鈥淗undreds of classes every day and thousands upon thousands of students are being denied their education and their future.鈥
It will be the third time in about six months that public school teachers have voted to strike聽and the second time this year that聽NSW聽and ACT Catholic diocesan schools have voted to take industrial action. Together, the unions represent more than three quarters of the state鈥檚 teachers.
Unionists from across Sydney and NSW and the ACT will rally outside NSW Parliament on June 30 as well as holding regional gatherings.
鈥淏oth unions have come to the conclusion that the government has its head in the sand in regards to the聽teacher聽crisis,鈥 Gavrielatos said. He said unions have been campaigning for the Premier to 鈥渞econsider his decision to cap the pay of聽teachers聽at three per cent when inflation is more than five per cent and rising鈥 but to no avail.
鈥淎cting on uncompetitive salaries and unsustainable workloads is the only way to stop more聽teachers聽leaving and attract the people into the profession we need to fix the shortages."
IEUA NSW/ACT secretary said Catholic聽school聽employers follow the聽government鈥檚 lead on salaries, even though they are not legally bound to. He said parents had supported the last strike teachers had.
Gavrielatos said the budget did nothing to address 鈥渃rippling workloads鈥, noting that the government knows 鈥渢he cause and the consequences of the crisis we now face鈥.
Catholic employers are also at fault, he said, and are now predicting a 15% shortfall in staff by 2030.