A sea of red: Teachers band together for fair pay and an end to contract teaching.
The February 14 Teachers’ rally had a huge turnout. The mass meeting at Vodaphone Arena was so full, 600 couldn’t get in. About 25,000 teachers marched through the city and to get an idea of the sheer size of the rally, picture this: When the area in front of Parliament House was just starting to fill up, the sea of red extended all the way to Flinders St!
120 Schools were shut down, with many partially shut down. Principals and vice-principals from some schools joined the teachers. Other groups such as Socialist Alternative joined the teachers in solidarity. And remember, the turnout of this rally may seem large but was just a small minority of the total number of teachers who withdrew their labour, most of whom did not attend the rally.
The Victorian government however, has not budged. The lowest paid teachers in Australia receiving 15% less than their New South Wales counterparts, Victorian teachers unanimously agree that a 3.25% payrise from the Brumby government is not enough, and also seek to abolish individual contract teaching.
During may, teachers will have three four-hour stoppages on the 13th, 14th and 15th to coincide with the national literacy and numeracy testing (formerly known as the AIM test).
“These tests do not add value to the students’ education. Why would teachers want to co-operate with the Government when they refuse to listen to them?” AEU president Mary Bluett said.
This may sound strange coming from students, let alone students from an Eco-Committee but we believe as a student organization, it is precisely our role as students to support the teachers’ struggle, and stand in solidarity to all struggles of the oppressed.
We propose a campaign to encourage Students in year 7 and 9 to refuse to complete their test papers on the day if students in those year levels are still required at school during the stoppages.
More details will be online soon.
This student campaign is proposed by: Mark Sun, Jimmy Yan
