Tasmanian teachers will strike across three consecutive days next week, as the education minister refuses to confirm whether a new pay offer will be made by a union-imposed Friday deadline.
The Australian Education Union (AEU) has announced rolling 24-hour stoppages starting Tuesday, March 24, on the north-west coast, followed by the north on Wednesday and the south on Thursday.
Minister Jo Palmer faced sustained questioning in parliament on Wednesday over the government’s response to the escalating dispute.
Teachers have already banned NAPLAN testing, with Labor accusing the department of deploying “strike-breaking staff” to keep the tests running.
“Has your department directed, authorised or encouraged this strike-breaking to undermine the teachers and their industrial action?” Labor leader Josh Willie asked.
Palmer did not directly deny the claim.
“We wanted to do everything we could to support principals who were trying to roll out NAPLAN,” she said.
“My department has done everything it can to support our principals in helping them to navigate their way through quite a tricky situation.”
Pressed on whether a new offer would be delivered by Friday, Palmer declined to commit.
“How this works is that we work daily,” she said.
“We work every day on this. Conversations are happening every single day.”
AEU Tasmania president David Genford said teachers and support staff were being treated with disrespect and warned further action was likely.
“We demand that by this Friday we see a quality deal on the table that shows respect to our teachers, our psychologists and our education support specialists,” he said.
“It is looking like we’ll be taking action next week.”
Genford urged members to bring their families to picket lines, describing the stoppage as a “full-day strike”.
“Turn up to show that we mean business and the government needs to take us seriously,” he said.
The government says it is negotiating in “good faith” with unions on issues including school violence and workload.
