United against changes
BRENDAN CRABB BRENDAN.CRABB@RURALPRESS.COM
01 Jun, 2011 10:01 AM
http://www.kiamaindependent.com.au/news/local/news/general/united-against-cha...
THE slashing of teaching jobs and raising of class sizes within Kiama are among the potential effects of newly-introduced State Government legislation, according to the NSW Teachers Federation.
The government last week introduced legislation into parliament that would allegedly threaten the pay and working conditions of public sector workers.
These include police, nurses, firefighters, teachers and paramedics.
If passed, the laws would result in the pay and conditions of these services’ employees being determined by politicians, instead of the current “independent umpire”, the long-running NSW Industrial Relations Commission.
Minnamurra resident Maria Ellson, who teaches at Kiama Public School said she was “shocked” by the news.
“I’m not willing to have the safety valve of parliament at the hands of the Fishers and Shooters parties,” she said.
“We’re looking for a salary revision at the end of the year. We’d prefer to have fairness and an independent umpire, and this doesn’t strike me as fairness.”
Ms Ellson was among representatives from a number of organisations who protested the bill, which would apply retrospectively, outside Member for Kiama Gareth Ward’s office last Friday morning.
Representatives from the Fire Brigade Employees Union, Teachers Federation and NSW Nurses’ Association were in attendance.
Teachers Federation regional organiser Nicole Calnan was particularly critical of public sector workers not receiving a pay rise of more than 2.5 per cent per year, unless they traded off “employee related cost savings and reforms”.
“We want teachers’ wages to be fair and competitive,” she said.
“Kiama has one of the highest concentrations of teachers… This could strip programs that are vital for teachers and students.
“They’ll slash teachers’ jobs and raise class sizes; that’s bad for the future of our students.”
FBEU president Darin Sullivan said workers were under increasing pressure to take on more of a workload and that the bill would remove their ability to claim work value.
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