On Wednesday, the NSW Teachers’ Federation (NSWTF) estimated that more than 15,000 people attended the scheduled demonstration in Sydney, which finished at the state’s parliament building.
Schoolteachers participating in the strike have said that the state government’s 2.04 percent compensation ceiling rise for public educators is not in line with 5.1 percent inflation.
It is the second teachers’ strike in six months, with protests taking place in areas including Wagga Wagga, Broken Hill, and Batemans Bay in addition to Sydney.
If we don’t pay teachers what they’re worth and we don’t address the crippling workloads, then we won’t be able to keep or recruit the teachers that we know are needed,” Angelo Gavrielatos, the president of NSWTF, said in a video posted on the organization’s Facebook page. In today’s message to the government, we tell them that we will not settle for anything less than what you and your students deserve.”
New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet reportedly requested that unions delay discussions on wages until after the state budget was presented in June, as reported by the ABC.
Unions NSW has declared, like NSWTF, that a rise in interest rates should lead to the elimination of the 2.5% pay ceiling in the public sector.