Trinity Gardens School has daytime end of year concert because of teacher industrial action
Union “grinches” are “stealing Christmas” from working parents by taking action resulting in end of year school concerts being held during the day, Treasurer Rob Lucas says.
SA News
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An SA primary school is moving its end of year concert to daytime, a move Treasurer Rob Lucas said was “mean-spirited behaviour”.
Trinity Gardens School principal Marg Erwin has written to parents about events affected by teachers’ actions to highlight workload issues as part of their industrial dispute with the State Government.
The concert will be at 10am on Tuesday, December 3.
Parents say it has previously been an early evening event. The letter says the school’s Australian Education Union sub-branch decision to “restrict after-hours activities” also means discos have been “rescheduled to during the day” on November 29. Camps will have “modified” staffing.
Mr Lucas said it was “outrageous, mean-spirited behaviour from union bosses”, but the union said it had made no direct suggestion to sub-branches to target school concerts.
“The union boss grinches within the AEU are trying to steal Christmas from working mums and dads,” Mr Lucas said.
“Children and their families ... have become collateral damage in the union’s infatuation with industrial action.”
Parent group SA Association of State School Organisations director David Knuckey said: “Parents who can’t attend because of work will miss out and it is particularly sad for children who will look out into the audience and not see mum or dad.”
A letter from the AEU Trinity Gardens sub-branch, handed to parents outside the school yesterday, said it was one of many schools where members were acting on union advice to minimise tasks not related to teaching and learning. It described them as “extremely difficult decisions” and acknowledged the “inconvenience and disappointment ... for our whole community”.
“We certainly are not working against you or your child through this action. We are, in fact, fighting for your children and their education,” it said.
AEU state president Howard Spreadbury did not know how many concerts were affected as such decisions were left to sub-branches. He said in some schools teachers had negotiated time off in lieu of evening concerts, such as by staff meetings being cancelled.
In other schools, parents had taken over running of concerts “years ago”, he said. The range of actions teachers were planning was about “taking control of their workload” and demonstrating how much the Government relied on their “goodwill” for unpaid duties.
Trinity Gardens School was contacted for comment.