One busload for rally as 550 teachers strike

Alex de Vos
The education union sent one busload of teachers from Geelong to a rally in Melbourne yesterday after 550 members walked out of the region’s public schools demanding more pay.
Thousands of primary and secondary students in around 40 schools took the day off as the strike suspended hundreds of classes across the region. A handful of schools closed all classes.
Australian Education Union’s Mary Bluett said the Geelong region teachers joined about 25,000 other members on strike around Victoria.
Ms Bluett said the bus of Geelong region teaches joined a stop-work rally from 10.30am at Vodaphone Arena before marching to Parliament House.
“Victorian teachers are the lowest paid in the nation,” Ms Bluett said.
“Those at the top of the scale receive 15 per cent less than their NSW counterparts, which equates to nearly $10,000 a year.
“In addition, close to half our public schools still have classes of over 25 students and one in five teachers are on short-term contracts, which is particularly discouraging for those looking to enter the profession.”
Ms Bluett said teachers, students and working families in Victoria deserved better than a State Government that had refused to “sit down and work out a plan to keep the best teachers in our schools”.
Torquay Primary School closed all its classroom doors for the second time in a year for teachers to go on strike.
Principal Pam Kinsman said the school had advised parents that classes would be cancelled and had offered to supervise children without other care options for the day.
“Most parents support the teachers, so they don’t send their kids to school,” Ms Kinsman said.
Education union representative Glen Wise said a group of teachers had planned to catch a train to the rally.
He said he could not arrange a picture for the Independent of the teachers boarding the train and that he would also be unavailable.
“I’ll be driving up,” he said.
Victorian teachers have been negotiating a new salary agreement with State Government for the past year.