ACT teachers to stop work

By Marina Carman CANBERRA — The Australian Education Union (AEU) in Canberra is embarking on an industrial campaign to highlight the steady decline in ACT government funding to public education after the latest round of cutbacks. Teachers will stop work on February 6 to discuss the dispute over a new enterprise bargaining agreement proposed in January. Some bans are already in place, and a process of educating teachers, parents and the community about the issues involved has begun. On May 15, ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell promised, "I am committed to maintaining the current level of ACT education funding, indexed for inflation, over the next three years". But the Liberal government's first budget in October cut education funding by $4.7 million. This was implemented through the retrospective removal of a 2% increase provided in a previous enterprise bargaining agreement in 1994-5. The AEU is critical of the government's strategy of budget cuts delivered through enterprise agreements in which pay rises are traded off against work arrangements which allow further cuts to funding and services. Such trade-offs include the loss of more than 50 jobs, all professional development being done outside semester teaching time, removal of pupil-free days, contract employment for principals, no paid sick leave on Mondays and Fridays without a medical certificate, and curriculum reductions. The funding cuts will mean up to four teachers fewer in some schools, and classes being cut or amalgamated. English as a second language and Aboriginal education will also be affected. At Narrabundah College, for example, staff cuts mean that 18 classes will be cut, including some advanced science, maths and English courses, as well as media, Australian history and Aboriginal studies. The government has already provided for a 1.3% pay increase through the cuts implemented from September 1995. The further increase of 4.3% offered does not even keep up with the CPI. In addition, the government is demanding that any further pay increases be unfunded, which would result in the loss of 30 to 40 ACT teachers for each subsequent 1% salary increase. In an information kit sent to all ACT branches of the AEU, union president Clive Haggar says, "AEU members are giving a clear message to the ACT Government and community that quality public education will no longer be delivered through the goodwill and dedication of hard working teachers. Teachers will no longer cushion the ongoing cuts to public education in the ACT." The union has released its own program for public education. It aims to restore and improve education funding, enhance working and learning conditions and increase teachers' salaries. It points out that Australia has the lowest rate of public education funding of all OECD countries. Canberra students involved in the socialist youth organisation Resistance are organising a solidarity action with the teachers on February 6. Resistance member Dean O'Keefe said, "Lots of students are really concerned about what the cuts will mean. It clearly affects the standard of our education. For both Labor and Liberal governments, students, services, working conditions and a decent standard of living for teachers clearly come second to the department making a profit. Education is a right and should be treated as such."