HOBART — Tasmanian teachers are stepping up their industrial campaign with the first ever strike-for-pay. Angry at the second lowest wage rates for teachers in the country, the Australian Education Union has announced rolling strike action involving 5000 teachers from all of Tasmania's state schools, kindergartens and TAFE colleges. The rolling stoppages will begin on July 8 and continue until the state Liberal government agrees to meet the AEU's 6.86% pay claim. The industrial campaign will affect 10% of schools, or about 7000 students, per day.
The state government is already involved in an industrial dispute with the Health and Community Services Union over a similar pay claim. After a bitter strike, this dispute has now gone before the Industrial Relations Commission for arbitration. Green Left Weekly's ROHAN GAISWINKLER spoke to AEU state president PENNY COCKER about the campaign.
Question: What changes have led the AEU to take this firm stand?
We have been seeking to negotiate with the government to get a reasonable pay rise for teachers since the beginning of the year. This has been quite unsuccessful; they have continued to insist that we should accept 3.6% for all of 1997.
Because the government has refused to negotiate, it has forced this matter to a head. The [AEU] executive has decided that the impasse has to be broken.
Question: The government is saying that such a pay rise will lead to a wages blow-out. How is the AEU combating this line?
For a start there is no indication that there will be a wages blow-out. There are three major public sector unions: one which did a deal with the government in January; another is HACSU, which is now in the Industrial Commission; and there's our union.
When we eventually got a result from the special case decision in late 1992-early 1993 [after a protracted pay dispute], the government tried to argue its incapacity to pay. The day after the government's incapacity to pay application was dismissed, the premier raised taxes.
They need to look very carefully at the long-term implications of having a significantly underpaid, under-valued teaching service, and the impact of the quality of the education system that this would generate in 10 years' time.
Question: Is the AEU seeking support from other unions, in particular from HACSU and NTEU?
There is conversation among the unions when they share common issues. When it comes down to final analysis, though, each union has to run its own campaign to address the needs of its own constituency. There are close working relations, particularly at the federal level, between the NTEU and the AEU.