74 days of action end after a week
By Di Quin
MELBOURNE — On May 25, Victorian public sector unions suspended the industrial action component of their "74 days of action" campaign, which started on May 17. Only teacher unions and the Health Services Union were actually taking rolling industrial action in the campaign, in the form of work bans and half-day stoppages.
This decision came after the Industrial Relations Commission directed the teachers to pull out of the campaign while talks were under way with the government on "all issues outstanding between them". The issues include salaries, classroom sizes, superannuation, leave entitlements, career structures and hours of work. Health Services Union members have also suspended industrial action while discussions continue with the government over shifting to a federal award.
The unions decided to halt industrial action only if the government agreed to hold talks on all issues in the dispute. However, the government has stated it would not discuss the log of claims served by the Australian Teachers Union until it reached the award making stage, and will only deal with the issue of redundancies.
Teacher unions have made it clear that if the negotiations break down the industrial action component of the campaign will resume. Meanwhile, other aspects of the 74 days of action campaign — including public meetings, letter boxing and demonstrations — are continuing. The unions are also planning a statewide show of strength in October to mark Kennett's year in office.