SAIT annual conference

By Adam Hanieh

ADELAIDE -- The South Australian Institute of Teachers held its 45th annual conference on September 21, the last for the union in its present form. In 1997 SAIT will dissolve and become the Australian Education Union (SA branch).

Conference delegates expressed satisfaction with the present industrial campaign for a 15% wage rise and improved working conditions. The week before, the bitter two-year campaign won a partial but significant victory when the state Industrial Relations Commission agreed to arbitrate on all areas of the dispute, including workload, despite the government refusing to address any of the workload issues.

SAIT president Janet Giles remarked in her annual report that the next step was to win more than just what had been taken away by successive governments.

The conference adopted a motion calling for a "powerful alliance of education workers, students, parents, community groups and the labour movement as a whole ... to promote public education".

There was lively discussion around a Thebarton Senior College branch motion for a rule change to strengthen the union's political independence from the major parties. Speakers noted that one of the strengths of SAIT had been its independence from the ALP. The motion was eventually lost, but an alternative motion was adopted that called for the executive to draw up proposed guidelines around political independence.

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