Teachers have been left reeling after a sudden turnaround from Premier Chris Minns on a new agreement with teachers.
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Teachers across the state took to the streets multiple times in recent years rallying for higher pay, better workloads and better conditions to little response, but hopes that a new party would change things have been dashed after the Premier backed out of a 'done deal.'
While a tentative agreement was reached between the NSW Teachers Federation and the state government in May, and reaffirmed in June, Mr Minns walked away from the deal on July 28.
"They dragged it out until July 28 and then all of a sudden, they've walked away from it. The Federation tried to re-establish and renegotiate but they did not come to the party ... Teachers are pretty gutted," said Griffith Teacher's Association president Jenna Woodland.
"We are staring down the barrel of thousands of teachers leaving. They were hanging on, hopeful that this government had heard our cry for help."
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She added that teachers have been left feeling like 'political pawns' after the Labor election campaign placed emphasis on listening to teacher concerns and raising salaries.
"The credibility of the Minns government is on the line ... He acknowledged there is a workload issue, he acknowledged the staffing crisis, he acknowledged the reputational damage and vowed to remedy those issues and yet here we are with him walking away," Ms Woodland said.
She added that it sent a 'powerful message' to teachers, parents and most of all students.
"We know we have students teaching themselves, they're sitting out on the lawn ... It tells them that they don't care that there is nobody in those classrooms."
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The current award is set to end in October, leaving teachers unions and the state government in a precarious position of needing to find a new agreement before the last one ends with no replacement.
Following last year's partnership between the two unions in a number of strikes, the Independent Education Union of Australia have reaffirmed their solidarity with the Teacher's Federation.
"We've been on the streets. We've been in NSW Parliament. We thought the Minns Government was listening. It seems they weren't," said president of the IEUA's NSW Branch Tina Ruello.
"The notion that you can rebuild a profession without the foundations being securely in place is illogical ... Schools have been splitting, sharing, and supervising multiple classes, and education and learning outcomes have been weakened as a result."
While there are no strikes currently planned, Ms Woodland promised that they would keep fighting.
"Our kids are worth it."
"There hasn't been any mention of strikes at this point. Teachers are tired, teachers are worn out ... We don't know what this means, what we do know is that the Minister for Education and the Premier are not welcome in our schools at the moment."
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