Education workers score 'great win'

Education workers score 'great win'

ADELAIDE — Following recommendations by the Industrial Relations
Commission that the government release funds for extra staffing in schools
and that the Australian Education Union lift its industrial action, teachers
and school support staff have agreed not to strike.

The recommendation is a victory and means that an additional 1000 school
staff will be employed. AEU president Janet Giles described it as a “great
win”.

At the end of 1998, AEU members voted overwhelmingly to strike from
the start of the 1999 school year if the government did not release $28
million budgeted for additional school staff. Instead of releasing the
funds, the government tied the money to the outcome of negotiations for
a new agreement.

Intense negotiations and a high-profile media campaign preceded the
court decision. The government clearly felt vulnerable and attempted to
gain support for its position with full-page newspaper advertisements and
radio and TV promotion, as well as a glossy mail-out to all staff. The
total cost of this propaganda exercise has been estimated at $160,000.

Discussions will now continue around the new enterprise agreement without
the threat of excess workload hanging over the heads of school staff.

From GLW issue 346