Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Australian Education Union NT Branch President Michelle Ayres says teachers are going on strike tomorrow, continuing to push for a pay rise of more than 2 per cent

Transcript

Australian Education Union NT Branch President Michelle Ayres says teachers are going on strike tomorrow, continuing to push for a pay rise of more than 2 per cent · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Last week we heard from the president of Union ZNT
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: that some public servants are going to be taking a
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: day of action tomorrow and going on strike. We now
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: know that's public servants in Darwin. Alice Springs and Catherine
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: are going to be taking that day and by and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: large the strikes so far have not had a huge
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: impact on many of us, but a lot of us
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: parents waiting to hear exactly what the situation is when
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: it comes to teachers. And joining me on the show
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: is the Australian Education Union president for the Northern Territory,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Michelle Airs.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Michelle.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Michelle.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: What is the situation.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Will teachers be taking industrial action and going on strike tomorrow?
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Yes, Katie, they will and why is that?
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: What's the decision or the reason behind that decision.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: So we've been working with the government to try and
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: come to an agreement that the teachers can sign off
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: on where now into week I think it's week seeks
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: the teachers. We're getting really close to the end of
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: the year. We're seeing teachers leave the territory. So so
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: many teachers have already made the decision to go, so
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: many more thinking about whether or not they'll go, and
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: we are yet to see an agreement that we'll get out,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: you know, incentivize people to either say or get recruit
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: people here for next year. I have spoken to a
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: school principle in the last week who said that he's
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: unable to get people through his door for next year.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: At the moment, he's yet to fill one position.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: So, Michelle, that two percent is not good enough.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Two percent does not put us above Queensland as far
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: as our salary rates go. And I've mentioned before I
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: think on your show and with other people, but so
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: long as we're competing with lower salary rates than we're
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: seeing in Victoria and Queensland, it is going to be
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: really hard to get people to leave those places where
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: there's more amenities, the cost of living is lower, and
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: they're closer to the family to come here to the
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Northern Territory, where it's a harder jurisdiction to teach in
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: lower funded classrooms. So we need to see something that
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: going to get teachers here.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, Michelle, I understand that
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: you are set to meet with the Public Employment Commissioner today.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: What are you expecting to happen?
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Yes, So, We're really hoping that they're able to put
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: out an agreement that we can we can put forward
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: to our teachers to and endorse from the aau's perspective,
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: so that people can vote on it and we can
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: get teachers not only paid but back paid. Because it's
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: eighteen months since the public sector has seen a pay rise,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: or at least teachers in the public sector have seen
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: a payrise, and that's considering the cost of living pressures
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: we're under. It is really hitting them hard.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Michelle, what if there is a great offer put on
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: the table today, will you still strike tomorrow.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: At the end of the day. The decision for that
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: is with the individual teachers. We had to make a call,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: and I had to tell the Commission of a Public
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Employment that we gave her a deadline and said, we
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: have to make a call. Our teachers need to know
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: if they're going out on strike. So if we get
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: a good offer today, if we get any offer today,
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: my intention is to put those numbers to the teachers
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: and let them make the choice. Do you want to strike?
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Are you fed up and frustrated or some people there's
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: two versions. Are fed up and frustrated. There are teachers
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: who are burnt out and tired and telling me, Michelle,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: I just want to be with my class, I just
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: want to be teaching. There are teachers who are burnt out,
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: tired and frustrated who want to go and yell on
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: scream at the government. And at this point I don't
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: blame either of them.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: So at this point, by the sounds of it, you know,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: those members are a little bit divided in the sense
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: that some of them sort of even though they're frustrated,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: they're prepared to stay back in the classroom because it's
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: towards the end of the year and they're over it,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: and others are thinking, no, I want to get out there.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I want to make sure my voice is heard.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, And that's you know, it's the end of the year.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: As a teacher, the end of the year is the
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: hardest time you're pushing through to get to the end
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: of term. Teaching is a really hard gig at any point,
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: but especially when you haven't been you know, I haven't
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: seen a pay rise in eighteen months. There's a teacher shortage,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: so most of these teachers are covering gaps and that
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: adds pressure. Everything that we're seeing this year where it's
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: the end or where Perry pandemic. Really, it's not over yet.
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  Speaker 3: So all of these things are just adding pressure and
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: pressure and pressure to teachers, and teachers are burning out,
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: and that's a huge concern. That should be the biggest
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: concern for our parents.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: At the moment, I think, well, look, you know, the
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: kids are ratty.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Everyone's a bit over it towards the end of the year,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: so it must be an incredibly hard time. I mean,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: I'm over it by the end of the year, so
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine what it's like if you've got twenty
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: twenty five thirty kids that supervising and trying to educate.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: You know, it is getting so close to the end
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: of the year.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Four weeks until the end of the year, Michelle, what
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: is going to happen if there isn't an agreement reached
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: by the end of the term.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: I've always said, Katie that if we do not have
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: an agreement by the end of the term, it is
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: going to be detrimental to our education system because, as
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: I said, principles are already struggling to get people through
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: the door. With four weeks to go, positions should be
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: being filled. So if we do not have teachers in
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: front of kids next year's I honestly can't tell you
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: what the government's going to have to do, so really
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: this is on them. We're trying to work with them,
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: but at the end of the day, it's the government's
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: responsibility to get teachers here next year, and so we're
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: really hoping they live up to that.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: You said before that there are already teachers making that
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: decision to leave. Do you have any idea at this
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: point what those numbers are looking like.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: It's a really tricky one to make a call on.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: We've got a very large northern territory. I know I
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: could give you statistics for one school, we're out of
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: eighteen teachers at the school, something like sixteen fourteen or
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: sixteen are leaving. So you know there will be schools
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: that this isn't a case of a teacher can just
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: cover the class. If we don't recruit. There are schools
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: that will not be able to operate next year. If
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: they cannot recruit people in their biggest schools, maybe they'll
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: lose you know, ten percent of their teachers or five
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: percent of their teachers, and they it will mean that
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: it's harder next year and that the teachers that stay
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: will have to put in even more work to cover
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: those classes, and those teachers, considering how burns out they
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: are now, that isn't sustainable. That's not going to last
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: very long. So this is hugely worrying if we can't
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: get an agreement across this year.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Michelle, I know that there's going to be parents that
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: are listening this morning that are going to be annoyed.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: They're going to be thinking this is hugely disruptive so
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: close to the end of the term. I mean, what
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: would you say to the those.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Parents, Yeah, I'd ask them to stick with us. The
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: parents and the parent voice has been one of the
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: biggest assets that we've had as far as breaking that
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: wage freeze and getting us to the point where we
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: are right now. I would also say the fact that
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: it's taken this long, this isn't on the union. This
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: is on the government who have held out so long.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: They waited until the very last moment of the school
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: holidays at the end of term three to break the
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: wage free It wasn't until week three that we were back,
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: you know, bargaining for an enterprise agreement. So when it
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: comes to who is the one who's disrupting education. Us
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: going out for four hours is actually doing a lot
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: less to disrupt education than the government holding back on
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: that on giving us an agreement.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: So, Michelle, four hours is what it's going to be tomorrow.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: What time is that and where is it going to be.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So the strike itself is from nine to one,
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: So teachers will be at school in the morning. They'll
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: head out of school at nine in Darwin, they'll head
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: down to Raintree Park to meet up with the other
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: mp public specting unions that you mentioned before, and then
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: they'll be a bit of a march down of Parliament
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: House at ten am and then the teachers will head
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: back to school by one pm and afternoon classes will resume.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Well, Michelle airs, we're really interested to see exactly what
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: happens here, whether the government comes to the table with
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: a payoffer, with a you know, with an offer that
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: teachers do deem acceptable. I know that this is across
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: the board with a lot of different public sector unions
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: and you know, let's be honest, the government has not
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: managed the books well and that is why we're in
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: the situation that we're in. I think that a lot
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: of territory and sort of you know, very much understood
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: that a couple of years back when we were going
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: through that situation. But right now, you know, CPI is
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: six point eight percent. I think it is here in
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, the cost of living's astronomical.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: And I do think that if we are.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Going to recruit teachers from interstate, if we're going to
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: retain our wonderful teachers, then you know a deal needs
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: to be done. The Northern Territory government needs to get
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: to the table and negotiate with you guys. That was
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Michelle Airs there, who is indeed the Australian Education Union
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Branch president for the Northern Territory.