MORE than 200 public school teachers are expected to attend a rally at Towac Park on Wednesday as part of the NSW Teacher's Federation 24-hour strike action.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
NSWTF organiser Stephen Kelly said the rally would feature addresses by public school teachers from Orange, Bathurst and Cowra and smaller schools from 9.30am with a similar rally to be staged in Dubbo. There will also be a video link from the main rally in Sydney.
Mr Kelly urged parents to check with their child's schools to find out if it was operational.
After having a child complete year 12 through last year's COVID difficulties, parent Lyn Furlonger said she had an insight into teachers' workloads and they had her full support.
"They're seriously overworked. They're underpaid - having had a year 11-12 student going through COVID, those teachers are so under valued for what they put up with," she said.
"I've got cousins who are teachers, my daughter is training to be a teacher so I certainly understand the difficulties they are facing at the moment."
Ms Furlonger, who no longer has school aged children, is the president of an Orange school's Parents and Citizens. She stressed she was not speaking on its behalf.
"There's got to be fairer resourcing across the state. It can't just be all about Sydney and the metropolitan schools. It has to be a more equitable way of resources state schools."
A NSW government promise to address public sector wages in next month's budget failed to stopped Wednesday's strike action.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell urged the NSWTF to cancel Wednesday's strike after directing her department to delay wage negotiations as part of a new teachers' award before the Industrial Relations Commission until after the June 21 budget.
"So the onus is really now on union bosses to make decisions about what they want to do," she said on Tuesday.
Ms Mitchell said delaying wage arbitration while continuing other negotiations showed the government was working in good faith.
NSW Teachers Federation President Angelo Gavrielatos says the strike will go ahead as teachers seek pay rises of five to 7.5 per cent while struggling with their workload.
He called on parents to support the action to ensure their children are taught by qualified teachers, warning of an unsustainable situation in education with more than 70 per cent of teachers considering new careers.
The union executive voted for the 24-hour strike after the government failed to negotiate further when industrial action was suspended last term, Mr Gavrielatos said.
Ms Mitchell said striking teachers would lose a day's pay.
To read more stories, download the Central Western Daily news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Send a letter to the editor using the form below