Striking NSW unions vow no retreat on pay

A tense standoff between two of NSW’s largest unions and the state government ended in stalemate on Tuesday, after tens of thousands of teachers and transport workers joined protests in Sydney.

Teachers rally outside NSW Parliament in Sydney on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

Two of the largest unions in NSW have refused to rule out further industrial action after tens of thousands of teachers and transport workers joined protests across Sydney on Tuesday.

A tense standoff between the NSW Teachers Federation and the Perrottet government ended in stalemate on Tuesday afternoon, after more than 380 schools were forced to close and approximately 117,000 students missed class.

Thousands of public school teachers from across Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and the Blue Mountains gathered to protest “stagnant wages” and “dire staff shortages”.

Protesters dressed in red T-shirts, chanting “more pay now” and “more than thanks”, gathered in Sydney’s Hyde Park and in Macquarie St, calling for a 5 to 7.5 per cent pay rise, as well as an end to what they described as ­unsustainable workloads.

However, NSW Education Minister Sarah Marshall said the government would not be drawn on unreasonable demands, standing by an initial offer of a 2.5 per cent wage increase – the maximum the government can offer under its public sector wages ­policy.

Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos, who led the strike from Hyde Park to the steps of the NSW parliament, said while it was “regrettable” that it caused school closures, it could not be avoided.

“This is a structural issue and we’re facing a perfect storm,” he said. “We’ve got an ageing teaching service, a massive increase in student enrolment over the next 20 years to 200,000 additional students and a 30 per cent decline in the number of people entering teacher education.

“The government does not have a coherent plan to fill 3000 vacant positions and recruit 11,000 teachers, which NSW will need over the next decade.”

Asked if the union would consider further strikes, Mr Gavrielatos said the next steps “were in the hands of the Premier” but refused to rule out further action.

“We did not intend to create a spectacle, but the fact is the government continues to ignore its own advice, their own secret briefings, which explains what needs to be done,” he said.

Ms Mitchell branded the union’s action as illegal, political and damaging to all students and parents. “We seem to hit a brick wall every time we try to talk about these matters … Kids and parents have had a tough year ­already ­because of Covid disruptions, and they need to be in the classroom,” she said.

The teachers’ strike coincided with a day of industrial action by bus and rail workers, causing major delays for commuters across the state.

It was the second day of industrial action by the Rail Tram and Bus Union, with the focus on services in Sydney’s southwest.

Union officials had warned travellers about lengthy delays on Monday, as its members refused to operate foreign-made trains, which they said accounted for ­approximately 75 per cent of the state’s fleet.

NSW RTBU secretary Alex Claassens said the dispute was a matter of pay as well as safety, saying that the state’s new trains from South Korea were not being used because they were not safe to operate. The union said it would continue to plan strikes over the summer if the government refused to negotiate.