The ongoing battle for better pay and workloads for teachers is returning early into term 2, after the recent olive branch to the state government was rejected.
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Last term saw a suspension of industrial action to encourage Premier Dominic Perrottet to come to the table and negotiate, but a lack of action from the state government has led to a statewide strike on May 4 for better pay and conditions.
Griffith Teachers Association president Jenna Woodland explained that the premier continuing to pursue the current three-year award deal actually represented a wage decrease for teachers.
"The government knows this has been coming for seven years and chose to blatantly ignore it. They pursue this three year award for 2.04 per cent."
The 2.04 per cent increase comes immediately after the national inflation figure surged to 5.1 per cent on April 27.
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She added "They've made it pretty clear that they're not on board and that's why we're doing it again. We're not going to accept this."
"Most teachers are working around 60 hours a week, so I'm not sure how that decision helps teachers or students."
Across the entire MIA region, students have been suffering due to the increasing workloads and meagre pay of teachers leading to less entering the profession and more leaving.
"The workloads are substantially higher than ever been, and the shortage just impacts it further ... Students are the ones who are missing out here - they're the ones the government isn't thinking about," Ms Woodland said.
A Teacher's Federation survey of members reported that 73 per cent said the workload was unmanageable, and 70 per cent were considering a different profession entirely. With thousands of classes already going uncovered, an exponential decrease in teachers could prove disastrous.
Ms Woodland hoped that with an upcoming election, added pressure could force the Commonwealth government to take action since the state government has not.
"Due to the state government's refusal to agree on a solution, I'd like to call on Sussan Ley and the current federal government to recognise that there is a complete disregard for the profession by the state government,"
"If the Labor government wants to win, then they should come up with a package to rescue the state of education in Australia."
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Ms Woodland emphasised the importance of community support in supporting teachers, and suggested the strike could potentially include a march to increase visibility of the issue.
"We can't do this without community support. The risk that we run is that teachers leave the profession - work less hours and get paid more somewhere else until there's nobody left to teach our children."
How can our communities accept that this is the state of public education in Australia?
- Jenna Woodland
She added that the growing wealth gap was intrinsically linked to the issue and that
"Continue to send your kids to public schools, often the more privileged families are in a position where they can speak out, and force change ... we need the support of people who have wealth and power to fight and say that public schools are worth funding."
"Stand with us, make some noise about it. Write letters, tell the minister that it's not okay. I don't know how to be any clearer."
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