teachers strike

An explosion of strikes and protests in Europe over cost of living and pay

December 16, 2022 by Madeline Lucre Leave a Comment

Workers are taking to the streets to protest high energy prices and mounting costs of living.

Nurses, pilots, postal workers, railway staff and others have walked off the job throughout Europe – all seeking wages that keep pace with inflation, which has soared since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

In Britain, nurses have voted en masse to go on strike, there were three days of strikes by tens of thousands of railway workers and more than 700 airport workers at Heathrow airport voted for a three-day strike last month.

In France, November also saw a nationwide day of walkouts and protests by train drivers, teachers and other public sector workers demanding government and employers increase salaries to keep up with inflation.

One protester, Victor Mendez, told France 24: “We all feel personally affected. Families are having a hard time buying a carton of eggs, or bread or even meat. That’s not possible in France, one of the world’s richest economies,” he said.

In Germany, unions across Europe’s biggest economy are demanding higher wages to compensate for rising inflation. Giant union IG Metal called on thousands of workers to strike across 15 key sites, including Airbus in Hamburg.

There have also been waves of strikes and massive rallies in Spain, Belgium, Greece and the Czech Republic.

NSW Government ‘silencing’ public sector workers with proposal to increase fines for strikes

July 15, 2022 by Madeline Lucre 1 Comment

The NSW Government has proposed new regulations that would increase fines for trade unions who take strike action not approved by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

The proposal comes after months of failed negotiations between the NSW government and public sector unions like the NSWNMA, leading to numerous strikes and industrial unrest over pay and conditions.

Over the past 12 months, nurses and midwives, along with teachers, bus drivers, cleaners and other public sector workers have gone on strike demanding the government deliver a pay rise that keeps up with inflation and address key safety and understaffing issues across various sectors including health and education.

In response to public sector workers demands, the NSW Finance Minister Damien Tudehope has instead announced increased fines for strike action.

The new fines would now see trade unions fined up to $55,000 for strike action taken in defiance of an IRC ruling and up to $27,500 issued for each day after. While unions who repeatedly breach orders would face fines of up to $110,000.

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association Assistant General Secretary Shaye Candish has called the move by the government a ‘silencing tactic’.

“The government does not want to face the realities of our health system and this silencing tactic is just another attempt to punish nurses and midwives who are speaking out in the name of patient safety.” Shaye Candish, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary.

“Teachers, nurses and midwives and the majority of public sector workers are women. Women who have been working tirelessly throughout COVID, caring for our community in the hospital system or teaching our kids under extraordinary circumstances. And these women are fed up with this government telling them to sit down, be quiet and put up with unmanageable workloads and low pay.” Shaye Candish, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary.

Under NSW laws, the NSW upper house can vote down any new regulation within 15 parliamentary sitting days. The regulation is expected to be voted on in early August with Labor and the Greens aiming to block the government’s regulation.

They will however need the support of independents or the Shooter Fishers and Farmers to defeat the NSW government’s latest attack on unions.

Unions NSW have mounted a campaign to lobby the crossbench in the NSW upper house, calling on them to reject the government’s regulation. You can find out more about the campaign and sign the petition here.

A letter to public school parents

December 1, 2021 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

NSW Teachers Federation President Angelo Gavrielatos pens a letter to public school parents as teachers prepare to go on strike on Tuesday 7 December.

Teachers and principals have made the difficult decision to go on strike on Tuesday 7 December.

This will be the first 24 hour stoppage in a decade and it reflects the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in.

We are deeply concerned about growing teacher shortages and the impact they are having on students across NSW.

There are more than 1800 vacant permanent positions in schools now from Bondi to Broken Hill. The Department of Education’s own research shows large and growing shortages of teachers.

Due to rising student enrolments, an ageing workforce and a significant decrease in the number of people enrolling in teacher education courses the teacher shortages will only get worse.

What is causing these teacher shortages?

Uncompetitive salaries and unsustainable workloads are making it harder to keep teachers in the job and have reduced the attractiveness of the profession to high achieving young people.

While the work of teachers has become more complex and challenging, their salaries have fallen well behind the average of other professions.

Teachers’ workloads are also excessive, particularly the administration and compliance obligations which detract from the time they have for lesson planning and focusing on the needs of individual students.

For 18 months we have tried to reach agreement with the NSW Government on a reset of teacher salaries to better reflect the work teachers do and make them competitive again with other professions.

We have also sought an increase of two hours in the preparation time teachers have each week. (The current two hour entitlement has not changed since the 1980s for primary teachers and the 1950s for secondary teachers.)

Unfortunately, the NSW Government is refusing to make this investment that will help retain our teachers and attract the ones we need to stop the shortages.

What will happen on Tuesday 7 December?

You will need to make alternative plans for your child on this day because teachers will not be at the school.

We understand this is not ideal. But if we do not take action now, teacher shortages will only widen and the disruption in the years ahead will only be greater.

If you would like more information or to show your support for teachers, you can do so at morethanthanks.com.au