By Nick Fredman
SYDNEY — NSW teachers will stop work for two days on June 2021 if the Department of School Education and TAFE do not agree to their demand for a 12% pay rise with no trade-offs. Teachers from government schools in the metropolitan area will take action on June 20 as will all the state's TAFE colleges. On June 21, government schools in rural NSW will go on strike as will Catholic school teachers.
The action being planned by the NSW Teachers Federation executive follows some disquiet among its membership that industrial action planned to take place in the week following the state budget was not organised.
The employers have been forced back to direct negotiations by a series of strikes and stop-work meetings, after maintaining a pay rise was only available through arbitration.
The federation is calling for a negotiated settlement that complies with its 12% wage claim, and at the same time is answering the government's case in the IRC in which they are offering a 7.1% rise tied to extensive trade-offs. The federation has proposed some cost cutting measures such as early voluntary retirement while rejecting the government's plans to increase hours, abolish a number of allowances and cut sick leave and 2500 jobs.
The federation is seeking support in their action from Catholic school members of the Independent Education Union, whose wages are tied to public school teachers and who jointly struck and rallied with federation members on April 23.