Victorian TAFE teachers are set to escalate industrial action with more stopwork action and further bans and limitations on work, following a historic 24-hour stopwork yesterday that saw hundreds of TAFE teachers rally to demand fairer pay and conditions on the steps of State Parliament.
Australian Education Union TAFE teachers held a mass meeting and voted unanimously to escalate industrial and political action, before marching to Spring Street to send a direct message to the Allan Labor Government for its failure to put an offer for decent pay and conditions on the table.
These new actions include a work to rule and bans on providing results to students, a further program of stopworks across the state, targeted political campaigning in the electorates of state Labor ministers and marginal state Labor MPs, and an escalated paid and earned media campaign.
AEU Victorian Branch President Meredith Peace condemned the Allan Labor government for turning its back on TAFE teachers, with today’s historic stopwork following more than two years of being ignored.
“For far too long, the state government has neglected the concerns of TAFE teachers. When the government doesn’t listen, it is time to take action. Yesterday showed that Victoria’s TAFE teachers have had enough of Premier Jacinta Allan’s government’s repeated failure to value and respect them,” Ms Peace said.
“TAFE teachers are fed up with the total lack of respect shown to them by the Allan Labor government. They said that they would save TAFE and they have done nothing of the sort with Victoria the lowest funded state every year for the last ten years when it comes to vocational education. The belligerence they have shown TAFE teachers by not delivering decent pay and conditions is simply unacceptable, and is further evidence that they have abandoned their promise.
“Victoria’s TAFE teachers are among the lowest paid in Australia, and receive almost $8,000 less than similarly experienced school teachers per annum.
“This is unacceptable, particularly as Victoria deals with ongoing skills shortages, including a shortage of TAFE teachers. The situation requires urgent intervention from the state government.
“TAFE teachers are burning out due to excessive and unsustainable workloads, and too many are leaving the sector to return to industry, where they can be paid more without the added stress and heavy workloads they are currently experiencing. In a recent survey of TAFE teachers, 71% said they were considering leaving the profession.
“The Allan Labor government cannot properly tackle the skills shortage facing many industries until they address the shortage of TAFE teachers. They need to fund fair and decent pay rises and conditions to retain existing TAFE teachers and attract new ones,” Ms Peace said.
Today’s mass meeting and march marked the first time TAFE teachers have taken 24-hour stopwork action for wages and conditions since 2008. Negotiations with the state government started over two years ago and it has been almost two years since the last pay rise for TAFE teachers.
MEDIA CONTACT: WILL BREWSTER – 0458 809 472
22 August 2024