Teachers take it to the streets

by Larissa Chatwin

May 5, 2008

A CAMPAIGN bus was rolled out at May Day celebrations on May 4 as the latest weapon in state school teachers’ bid for better pay and conditions.

State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne told a crowd of 60 teachers at Fremantle’s Esplanade Reserve the bus would be used to lobby state MPs in marginal seats.

“The minister has proceeded to try and convince the community, and ourselves, that the offer was a damn good one, with information that was misleading,” Ms Gisborne said.

In a press release on March 19, Shadow Education Minister Peter Collier blasted education minister Mark McGowan’s advertisements about teachers’ salaries, which Mr Collier said were “blatantly misleading and inaccurate in key areas”.

At the May Day rally, Ms Gisborne said Mr McGowan had also used the teacher shortage to avoid responding to extra-curricular work and class size overloads.

She said teachers employed in schools and TAFE colleges were experiencing low morale, were overloaded with work and felt disrespected and undervalued.

To draw the attention of local MPs to these issues, the SSTU would use the “teachers have had enough” campaign bus in marginal seats over coming weeks, taking teachers out into the community to letter-drop.

“It is about bringing to the government, to the minister, a clear challenge that he needs to resolve this matter...and move forward in terms of dealing with the teacher supply problem that we’ve got before us,” Ms Gisborne said.

Calls to Mr McGowan’s office were not returned.