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New South Wales (NSW) Government Slams Teachers Union Over Strike Union Strikes To Preserve Status Quo Class Sizes and Staffing Levels http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/nsw-govt-slams-teachers-union-over-strike-20120518-1yub2.html The Sydney Morning Herald May 18, 2012 The NSW government says school reforms are for students, not the teachers union, which has threatened further industrial action unless a review of the changes is carried out. Tens of thousands of teachers walked off the job for two hours on Friday morning to protest the government's reforms, which the NSW Teachers Federation fears will cut staff numbers and increase class sizes. The teachers voted in favour of a review of the Local Schools, Local Decisions policy but did not specify what type of industrial action would be pursued if the government did not co-operate. The NSW government says the reforms will allow principals more control over school decisions, including managing 70 per cent of a school's budget and hiring up to 50 per cent of staff. Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said the two-hour strike during school hours was "unbelievable". "We are not going to be held to ransom by the Teachers Federation," he said in a statement. "These reforms are to suit students, not the union." But the union said teachers were sick of being "locked out" of discussions about policy. "(The government) keeps treating the profession as though they're just chess pieces on the board that it can shift around," union president Maurie Mulheron told reporters in Sydney. He said teachers had voted in "unprecedented numbers" to reject the policy and for the government to reconsider the reforms. "The profession has got to a stage where they're sick of things being done to them," he said. About 750,000 students were affected by the strike action on Friday which ended at 11am (AEST). A parents group said while they did not always support such strikes because of the impact on children's learning, they fully understand the reasons for the action. "We'd actually been asking for some of the same questions to be answered," P&C Federation spokeswoman Rachael Sowden told AAP on Friday. "We would have some concerns around class sizes and we'd like to look at some sort of minimum guarantees (under the proposed Local Schools Local Decisions reform policy)." The union is calling for guarantees that class sizes won't increase, and permanent staff, specialist teachers and executive staff will not be lost. "We're not even asking for anything extra, we're not even asking for one extra dollar in the education budget," Mr Mulheron said. "We're asking for the current status quo of guarantees to be confirmed." He refused to put a time limit on the government's response to calls for a review. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/nsw-govt-slams-teachers-union-over-strike-20120518-1yub2.html ____________________________________________ PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. Submit via email: [log in to unmask] Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3 Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe PS Labor Archives: http://portside.org/archive Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate