Teachers squeezed to pay Olympic debt The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, May 10th, 2000. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au> Subscription rates on request. ****************************** While last week's 24 hour strike by NSW teachers was yet another message to the Carr Government that teachers drew the line against the further undermining of public education months ago, when the Government first sparked the dispute, there is another item on the agenda which has been kept way in the background by the Government: the cost of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. by Marcus Browning Part of the Government's strategy is a pay deal it has struck with three public sector unions; the Public Service Association, the Health and Research Employees' Association and the NSW Nurses' Association. The deal includes a two percent pay increase each year for 2000 and 2001, followed by three percent in 2002, four percent prior to the state election in 2003 and five percent following soon after that election (assuming Carr is re-elected). These minimal rises -- which are to be offset by productivity "efficiency" trade-offs -- are part of a cost-cutting exercise connected to the looming Olympic debt. State public school teachers declined to enter into the deal and so are now being belted from pillar to post by the Labor Government to try and force them to "contribute" to the alleviation of what is to be a monster Olympic economic hangover. That does not rule out a political agenda. As the Teachers' Federation observed: "The suggestion that public school teachers be paid less, and that casual teachers continue to be paid significantly less, than teachers in the non-government sector, whose salaries are largely funded by the Government, represents an attack on public education." It was in November last year when teachers were handed an unacceptable package which would have pulled the insides out of their award conditions and wages. The Government's award application also came with an insulting pay offer attached that was below the inflation rate. In fact the Minister for Education, John Aquilina, had pulled the plug on meaningful negotiations as far back as October 1998 when he failed to respond to a salaries and status claim from the NSW Teachers' Federation. Last year's hit list, which was delivered by Director General of Education Ken Boston, included school hours of 7am to 10pm Monday to Saturday, schools to be open 50 weeks a year, all teachers to have their teaching hours increased and face an annual inspection by the Department in order to progress to the next pay level. Secondary school principals would have job security for only five years and would be subject to annual performance reviews. They would -- along with school counsellors, home liaison officers and career advisors -- also have their annual holidays reduced by four weeks. As the dispute became sharper, and it became clear that the Government had no intention of trying to peacefully resolve the issues -- it was actually on a course to impose retrograde changes -- its tactics turned dirty. Taxpayers' money was used in a media campaign to vilify teachers and turn the public against them. Yet, despite the intimidation and the impression created by the Government that anarchy reigned, only 15 school days have been lost during the entire protracted dispute. The State's Independent Education Union reached agreement with Catholic school employers in a process which set aside the draconian demands and allowed for a comprehensive agreement to be negotiated, something the Carr Government refuses to do. In the final analysis the Federation is actually fighting for the viability of the public education system so that the system can provide a quality education for its masses of students. As such, it also wants the Government to address the drastic teacher shortage, the attempt to reduce their wages and conditions only acts as a deterrent to people seeking to enter the profession. The Federation gives, as an example of the dire situation, research indicating that by 2004 governments will only be able to meet 81 percent of demand for primary school teachers and only 66 percent of demand for high school teachers. Add to this the ruthless drive by the Federal Government to undermine public education nationally through the enrolment benchmark adjustment scheme which funnels Commonwealth funding into private schools, and you have the makings of a major crisis in public education. At the moment, for every dollar the Federal Government gives the private system, only 42 cents goes to state schools. By 2002 the public system will have lost $800 million through this scheme. "The salary increases `offered' [by the Government] will not provide the necessary incentive to retain experienced teachers in schools, nor attract graduates in the numbers required to address this massive teacher shortage", warned the Federation. Last week's 24 hour strike was yet again caused by the Carr Government's rejection of the Federation's proposal "for arbitration of outstanding matters". Teachers reaffirmed their stand, calling for: * no salary discounting; * salary parity for casual school teachers; * pay equity for part-time TAFE teachers; * no increased work load for teachers; * respect for teacher professionalism. Teachers have also noted the Carr Government's embracing of the "New Labour" idea touted by the Blair Government in Britain, the Premier declaring that the NSW ALP would be following the Blair blueprint, a form of slash-and-burn extreme right economic policies allied with a move to cut the ALP's ties to the union movement. This accounts for the Government's utter contempt for the NSW Teachers' Federation in this dispute. And someone will have to pay for the mountain of Olympic debt now piling up -- a debt that will take years to settle. But it won't be the Government's corporate cohorts, so the squeeze is now on essential services such as education. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: TEACHERS SQEEZED TO PAY OLYMPIC DEBT
Communist Party of Australia Wed, 10 May 2000 04:11:39 -0700
