On October 31, some 70 Wollongong TAFE teachers stopped work in support of students facing massive fee increases. The stopwork meeting condemned both federal and state governments for under-funding TAFE and shifting the cost of quality vocational education onto students. The teachers also expressed disgust at the Howard government for finding a "lazy" $2 billion to support the duplication of TAFE with the new Australian Technical Colleges (ATCs).
Wollongong TAFE Teachers Federation representative Rob Long condemned the proposed student fee increases of up to 9% as absurd and unjust in the context of de-skilling in Australia. "The state ALP government has put this on us during a federal election because they assumed we wouldn't stand up when the ALP is expecting an election victory", he said. "Well bullshit; we'll stand up to them."
The Howard government's announcement of funding for 100 more ATCs was denounced as a grossly inefficient duplication of existing resources. Australian Education Union federal president Pat Byrne said the money would have been better spent providing urgently needed funding for students in the TAFE and public secondary school systems. "AWAs [individual contracts] are compulsory in ATCs and this policy is a massively expensive way for Howard to push his harsh IR laws onto schools", she said. "Not a single student has graduated from existing ATCs, which have struggled to attract enrolments and have barely 1800 students nationally."
Long compared Howard's $2 billion for these 1800 students to the existing $1 billion allocated to around 1 million TAFE students currently enrolled. During discussion, a teacher at the meeting explained the situation facing a current ATC student. As part of the student's AWA he works around 42 hours a week on top of study; he hasn't had a day off for over a month. The meeting voted unanimously to call on the state government to commit to never increasing TAFE fees above the Consumer Price Index increases, and to remove the $50 fee for benefit card holders. The meeting also resolved to continue the campaign — which may include further industrial action — if the demands aren't met.
"We cant wait for the federal election outcome", explained Long. "We have to stand up now. As teachers we are the only ones who can take on the state government and stop these attacks", he concluded.