BY MARY MERKENICH
In the week preceding the September 17 Australia- wide day of industrial action by teachers' unions, including 24-hour strikes by teachers in three states and a half day stop-work in the ACT, the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU) reported that it was joining up new members at the rate of 100 a day.
Historically, trade unions have always experienced an increase in membership when they mounted campaigns involving action by their members to protect or to improve workers' conditions or pay. It is therefore no coincidence that union recruitment has been boosted by the teachers' unions current campaign, which both the union leaders and the corporate media describe as "unprecedented".
The September 17 stop-work actions — the first simultaneous nation-wide strike actions ever undertaken by Australian teachers — will take place in response to attacks on public education by state Labor governments.
Public school teachers in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia will stop work for 24 hours. Tasmanian teachers are presently on holidays. The Queensland Teachers Union (QTU), while it decided not to participate in the September 17 strike, has rejected Premier Peter Beattie's offer of a 3.8% pay rise.
The September 13 Brisbane Courier-Mail reported QTU president Julie-Ann McCullough saying that the union would continue its push for a better pay deal and talks on class sizes in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (IRC).
All AEU state branches are angry about the collusion of the state Labor treasurers to cap any pay increases for teachers to 3% — which, given the current inflation rate, would amount to a pay cut. The pay issue, however, is only a part of the problem. A national teacher shortage, working conditions, class sizes, contract work, preparation time, funding to students with disabilities and the funding and resourcing of state schools are all issues motivating most teachers and other education workers to participate in the September 17 actions.
At a press conference on August 6, AEU federal president Pat Byrne summed up the sentiments of union representatives in her opening statement: "[The treasurers' action] does nothing to address the underlying problems [of teacher recruitment] and it sends a message to people considering teaching as a career that, in fact, state governments around the country do not value teachers."
Byrne went on to say: "We are facing a massive teacher shortage. At the end of 2005 we will be 5000 teachers short. If nothing is done this situation will worsen to 25,000 by the end of the decade."
AEU Victorian president Mary Bluett said that almost one third of experienced Victorian teachers will resign or retire within six to eight years. She added: "A recent survey of over 1000 beginning teachers indicates 43% do not see themselves teaching in five to 10 years. The treasurers must address retention as well as recruitment as a matter of urgency."
On September 11, NSW Teachers Federation president Maree O'Halloran told reporters: "More than one third of people who are qualified to teach are not teaching in our schools basically because they can earn more money in other industries." On the same day, the Teachers Federation launched a case in the NSW IRC for a 25% pay rise over two years.
NSW education minister Andrew Refshauge promised to pay teachers whatever the IRC decided but claimed that his government could only afford a 6% pay rise spread over two years. The union accused the government of holding the industrial arbiter to ransom by suggesting any pay rise for teachers would have to be offset by cuts to other parts of the education budget, such as student services and resources.
In Western Australia, the education minister Alan Carpenter and the AEU failed to sort out their differences over pay increases to teachers when they met on September 11. Carpenter has offered a 9% rise over the next two-and-a-half years, with larger rises for senior teachers, while the AEU wants a 30% increase over three years and several other provisions in its enterprise bargaining agreement, including smaller class sizes.
WA AEU president Pat Byrne said the union was satisfied with some aspects of the new offer, but issues such as reduced class sizes and more preparation time for primary school teachers had not been dealt with. She added that the pay offer was too small.
Ten thousand teachers (including non-union members) are expected to pack the Vodaphone Arena in Melbourne on September 17 to add their voices to those of their interstate colleagues. Thousands more will attend country meetings including along the Victoria-NSW border, which will be held jointly with members of the NSW Teachers Federation.
Victorian teachers are protesting about working conditions, the 300 jobs which are to be cut from the Department of Education and Training, as well as against suggestions by Premier Steve Bracks' government that it might cut funding to students with disabilities. They are also angry about a pay offer of 2.25% plus a further 0.75% for productivity.
The bottom line is that teachers have been making up for the failure of all state and territory governments to adequately resource and fund public schools. Many school buildings are in need of repair or updating and teachers work long hours without any overtime pay. In many schools, classes are far too large and there are increasing numbers of students with learning problems or behaviour problems.
Teachers make an enormous contribution to society, yet the very well-paid politicians are telling them that they are not valued. Education ministers, like Lynne Kosky in Victoria, are demanding more sacrifices from teachers, including that they work longer days and give up one week of their holidays to take part in professional development.
[Mary Merkenich is a teacher in Victoria and a member of the Australian Education Union.]
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, September 17, 2003.
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