PENOLA teachers joined public school educators from across the South East on Monday when the group of more than 200 hit the streets of Mount Gambier to call for improved learning conditions for students.
The stop work action day displaced thousands of students across the Limestone Coast, with many school shutting down partially or completely for the day including Penola High School and Penola Primary School.
Dressed in red, the rally members chanted slogans and waved placards as they marched from the Rail to Commercial Street West’s regional education office.
The public demonstration comes amid an ongoing impasse between the union and the State Government over stalled enterprise bargaining negotiations.
Despite months of negotiations, the union claims the government’s offer does not address key working conditions for educators.
Those taking part in the rally were quick to assure if action is not taken against the current conditions, further stop work action would be considered.
Penola High School teacher Kathleen Phillips said the choice to strike on Monday was an easy one for her to make.
“The enterprise bargain will disadvantage teachers and country schools,” she said.
“While striking is an inconvenience to families – and I myself have children at school – I firmly believe that if we do not stand for our conditions and for our students then we open the door to a far worse scenario.
“The government wants a world class education system in this state, but has forgotten that its staff and schools need to be better funded for that to happen.”
Ms Phillips said one of her biggest concerns was whether the government would remove the AEU from the decicison-making process at both a school and department level.
“In schools this means removing the AEU Representative from the PAC (Personnel Advisory Committee),” she said.
“This committee works together with the principal to discuss staffing, timetables and issues that have been brought by staff regarding the workplace.
“The AEU rep works to ensure these issues are discussed confidentially and ethically for all staff concerned and that guidelines are followed in accordance to the PAC Handbook.
“By removing the AEU rep from this process means there is no-one to hold the committee accountable for their actions and to ensure that staff are treated fairly.
“The main concern is in panels for jobs, the AEU rep’s position is to ensure that all applicants
are treated fairly and the best person for the job is chosen – the removal of the rep means that this could be abused.”
Ms Phillips also highlighted the issue of staff retention in country areas.
“Closer to home for country schools, the biggest issue is about attracting staff and retaining them longer than five years,” she said.
“In the proposed enterprise bargain, the government has offered only $1.2m for five years to work on country incentives.
“We all know that money is not a lot when we are talking about country schools.
“We need to think about how we attract staff to leadership positions from outside of the regions and how to keep them longer than their contract.
“Our students deserve to have great dedicated teachers, who are willing to work in the country – other states do this much better than we do.”
Australian Education Union SA Branch president Howard Spreadbury reinforced the stop work action was not taken lightly.
“We understand it will have an impact for families, but not taking action would lead to a far more detrimental outcome for their children in the long run and that is not a risk we can take,” Mr Spreadbury said.
“The Marshall Government has repeatedly tried to downplay the level of support that this stop work action has received from the community and our members.
“The Marshall Government and the Department for Education have also been actively pressuring leaders to keep sites open, particularly preschools.”
But Mr Spreadbury remained hopeful for a positive resolution.
“Workload and complexity, job security and country incentives must be addressed,” he said.
“We have put forward a modified proposal outlining issues that must be taken into account before an offer will be considered.”
