FOR the fourth time in less than 12 months, scores of teachers from across the Swan Hill region walked off the job yesterday as part of a Victoria-wide work stoppage.
Yesterday’s strike was aimed at pressuring the State Government to accept the Australian Education Union’s (AEU) latest salary proposal.
The union’s proposal includes a 4.2 per cent pay rise per year over three years and a reduction in short-term contract employment.
Schools across the municipality were forced to cancel classes due to a lack of supervising teachers, with Swan Hill College asking parents to only send Year 7 and Year 12 students to school.
Principals from both Swan Hill Specialist School and Beverford District Primary School confirmed that strike action had rendered their entire schools closed for the day.
AEU representative and Swan Hill Specialist School teacher Trevor Hopkins said the decision to strike had not been taken lightly.
“The government has not come to the beginning table, which is why 100 per cent of teachers at [Swan Hill Specialist School] have decided to strike,” he said.
“And there is overwhelming support from parents.”
Support for the union’s actions is not universal, however, as a fiery debate broke out on The Guardian’s Facebook page regarding the ongoing industrial action.
“I understand [the teacher’s] plight, but I don’t agree with the way they are going about it,” Paul Woodhead wrote.
“They are inconveniencing students and their parents.”
Local resident Tegan-Joy Murray put forward a similar view.
For more on this story, see Friday’s edition of The Guardian
(15/02/13).
