Cries of “make sure our TAFE is here to stay,” rose high in the air as staff and members of the NSW Teachers Federation from Grafton TAFE joined hundreds of their colleagues across the state on September 21, holding a stop work meeting to voice their concerns regarding uncompetitive salaries, exploitation of casual employees, and untenable workloads.
Calling out the NSW Government and TAFE NSW for taking advantage of their goodwill as they continue to work under enormous stress with limited resources and support, Grafton TAFE staff said there is a critical shortage of teachers which is putting immense pressure on available courses and student enrolments.
Since 2012, the number of teachers has fallen from 17000 to 8000, and they are calling for better wages and improved working conditions to help retain and attract staff.
During the stop work meeting, Grafton TAFE staff declared they “are not backing down”, until TAFE is “built up again so we can address the skills shortages across the state.”
A spokeswoman for TAFE NSW said she was disappointed the NSW Teachers Federation encouraged members to undertake industrial action “at a time when the nation’s leaders of government, industry, education, and the labour movement are coming together to try and solve critical skills shortages.”
“As Australia’s largest training provider, employers depend on TAFE NSW to provide a pipeline of skilled job ready graduates to staff their businesses,” she said.
“Industrial action which includes rolling stoppages, bans on student administration, and interfering with the enrolment of new students will hinder the supply of job ready graduates to industries that are already facing skills shortages.
“TAFE NSW is committed to the good faith bargaining process for a new Teachers Enterprise Agreement under the Fair Work legislation and will continue to negotiate with the NSW Teachers Federation as part of the process.
“This year’s State Budget set out a wages policy for public servants with a maximum remuneration increase of 3% (comprising 2.53% salary and 0.5% superannuation), and in order to pass this increase on to staff as quickly as possible, TAFE NSW opted not to seek any changes to the provisions of the existing agreement, including seeking any productivity gains.
“The NSW Teachers Federation has instead opted for industrial action.”
Sianne Pengilly told the Clarence Valley Independent she would like to enrol in a business administration course through Grafton TAFE but is hesitant to commit to studying due to staff shortages which she claims has the potential to affect her overall results.
“Teacher numbers have fallen drastically over the years, and if there aren’t enough staff to adequately teach a whole classroom of students, how can we be guaranteed of achieving the best marks possible?” she asked.
“I fully support the decision by staff to take industrial action, because they’re acting in their best interests and the interests of people like me who want to learn.”
This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 28 September 2022.
