Tasmanian Premier, Jeremy Rockliff, has called on the Australian Education Union (AEU) to reconsider its plans to stop work next week, saying the strike action is an unnecessary disruption to families and will impact student learning.
“We want our teachers and school staff to have a pay rise before Christmas,” said the Premier.
“The Government has offered an immediate 3% wage increase while we continue good faith negotiations on a new, longer-term agreement.
“Tasmanians would understand that we simply cannot afford the union’s claim of 21.5% over three years, including 11% in one year, along with additional conditions that would add to these figures.”
The Premier said the wage offer made to unions was well above Tasmania’s annual inflation rate of 1.7%.
“The last thing unions should be doing is impacting on families and robbing children of valuable classroom time.”
“I urge the unions to call off their strike action, agree to a fair pay rise in the interim while we work together towards a longer-term agreement,” he said.
The Australian Education Union (AEU) has ordered stop-work action across all Government schools. As part of the action, north-west schools will close on Tuesday, on Wednesday in the north and on Thursday in the south, with teachers not returning to classrooms until 11am.
