South Coast teachers bury government offer
By Andrew Hall
WOLLONGONG — Teachers in the northern suburbs of Wollongong buried a coffin outside Labor state MP David Campbell's electoral office on November 11. On the previous day their colleagues from southern schools burned copies of the Education Department's latest pay offer.
In the biggest meeting of striking teachers in 10 years, more than 1500 gathered on November 12 to endorse stronger industrial action.
Teachers from the Illawarra and the South Coast will bus to join the rally outside state parliament on November 18 and will then implement rolling strikes through November and December. Further action will be considered at a stop-work meeting on December 3 if the government does not withdraw its current offer.
Before the protests, teachers described the offer as "an insult" and "pathetic". Oak Flats teacher Jim Bradley, who led one of the demonstrations, said, "The pay offer was so paltry, it's a joke".
Illawarra Teachers Federation organiser Peter Wilson added that this offer also involved unreasonable trade-offs.
The federation suspects that the government's offer of 9.6% will apply only to a limited number of teachers on the highest levels, and that teachers on seven of the 11 pay steps will be offered an increase of less than 4% over four years. The federation is demanding an across-the-board increase of close to 15%, depending on trade-offs.
Other negative aspects of the government's offer are the removal of all references requiring teacher training qualifications, increasing the hours of attendance to between 7am and 10pm Monday to Saturday, increased class sizes and reduced working conditions.
The turnout at the protests and the mass meeting was impressive. A spokesperson from Bulli High said teachers at the protest included many who normally did not demonstrate. "The people here are very highly qualified and professional, but they've just had enough", he said.