Catholic teachers to strike over workloads in South Australia
Courtesy of ABC online
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-06/catholic-school-teachers-strike/7818036?section=sa
Teachers from about 50 Catholic schools in South Australia will stop work on Thursday over a workload dispute.
Independent Education Union state secretary Glen Seidel said Catholic teachers often worked one-and-a-half hours more each week than teachers in government schools.
He said the teachers’ pay dispute had been settled but not much had been done to reduce teachers’ workloads, which included meetings and yard duty.
“We’ve introduced a gradually escalating industrial campaign that started off with T-shirts and short stoppages,” he said.
“It’s now got to a half-day stoppage, we don’t particularly want to go further but members are quite adamant something needs to be done.”
He said primary and high schools would be involved in the action on Thursday afternoon.
“Schools may be able to manage the supervision internally. I haven’t heard of any schools that would be actually closing,” Mr Seidel said.
Catholic Education South Australia director Helen O’Brien said it had reached a 2.5 per cent annual pay rise for teachers over three years and further claims about conditions were “unaffordable”.
She said the office was “committed to reducing workloads and increasing salaries” and hoped a resolution would be reached soon.
Catholic school employers have offered 11 hours per year reduction in student contact time during times of “intense workload” such as reporting writing and a reduction of 6.5 hours of yard duty, teacher meetings and briefings.
“We need to balance the needs of our staff with ensuring that we offer affordable school fees for South Australian families,” she said in a statement.
“Teachers and school families both deserve a fair deal.”
Teachers will hold a rally starting at 2:45pm at Victoria Square in Adelaide
Glen Seidel on ABC radio’s Matt and Dave:
