An estimated 15,000 teachers rallied in Hyde Park and marched to New South Wales parliament on May 4 to demand better pay and conditions. It was their second strike in six months.
鈥淲hat do we want? More than thanks! When do we want it? Now!鈥 was the teachers鈥 main chant as they marched down Macquarie Street wearing red T-shirts. 鈥淭eachers are burning out. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e walking out鈥, 鈥淢ake education great again鈥, 鈥淪como funds preachers, not teachers鈥, and 鈥淵es, we will strike again, until you listen to us鈥 were just some of the colorful placards.
Thousands more teachers struck and protested at 15 regional rallies around the state. More than 250 schools were closed for the day.
The NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) walked out last December over the same issues. With the national inflation figure at 5.1% per cent, it is pushing for a pay rise of between 5鈥7.5%.
Premier Dominic Perrottet鈥檚 NSW Coalition has kept the public sector pay cap of 2.5% in place. It claims it will be reassessed in the state budget in June, but has not given an indication by how much.
Teacher聽Nancy Penfold from Marrickville Public School told the Sydney rally that teachers聽wanted to improve conditions for students. 鈥淜ids deserve qualified聽teachers聽in every classroom.聽Teachers聽[deserve]聽better working conditions and a competitive salary that will attract and retain the聽teachers聽we need,鈥 she said.
Uralla Central School principal Michael Rathborne from the聽New England region, who has taught for more than 30 years,聽said: 鈥淭hings have never been worse, when it comes to staffing our schools. Both my deputy and I now far too regularly take classes to avoid minimal supervision. We do that to help our staff because the burden is too large.鈥
NSWTF president聽Angelo Gavrielatos said聽the government has had enough time to resolve the dispute, adding: 鈥淲e鈥檝e been very patient, the government must act.鈥 He told the rally that the union had received support from unions across the country and globally.
A Sydney high school teacher spoke to 91自拍论坛: 鈥淭here is a critical shortage of teachers in NSW schools. This goes back to before the pandemic. Teachers are disillusioned with their excessive workloads and low pay. They are now often considering other career options.
鈥淲e also need more specialist teachers to tackle problems of low literacy. Children are coming into secondary schools with only level three reading levels, as a result of social problems they face.
鈥淲e also urgently need more money from the federal government for public education. All the funds from the Coalition federal government are going to private schools.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 strike is important for our campaign for proper pay and conditions, and for adequate funding for the public school system as a whole,鈥 she said.
A Sydney primary school teacher told GL that teachers have excessive workloads. 鈥淪even in 10 teachers in a recent union survey of 10,000 members found that their workload is unsustainable. Young people are leaving the profession, subject areas are not being filled and staff are聽being forced to teach out of their areas of expertise.鈥
They added that the 鈥渃omplexity of the work had increased over the past 10鈥15 years鈥. Teachers are putting in large amounts of out-of-hours time and have to complete ongoing compulsory training too.
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