Why NSW teachers are angry

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Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. It's Thursday, the seventeenth of August. I'm Zara Seidler, I'm Sam Kauzlowski. The Public school Teachers' union in New South Wales says it's been betrayed by the New South Wales government in wage negotiations and teachers are telling us they're frustrated too.

It does definitely feel like a kick in the gut.

We're just asking to be paid what we're worth, yet we get slapped in the face.

So how did these negotiations break down and what's the government's perspective on all of this. Our podcast producer Nina is going to come on and explain all of it in today deep dive. But first Sam, it was a big night.

That's right.

Zara the Matilda's dream run in this FIFA World Cup has come to an end. They went down to England three to one last night in front of seventy five thousand fans at Stadium Australia. Not even a Sam Kerr wonder strike could get the Matilda's back in contention against a very strong english side. They now face Spain in the final of the World Cup on Sunday night. Australia still has one more game. They'll play Sweden up in Brisbane on Saturday night in the third verse fourth playoff.

Yesterday, at national cabinet from all states and territories agreed to set a target to build an extra two hundred thousand homes by mid twenty twenty nine. They also agreed to enact nationally consistent laws for renters, but stopped short of limiting how much rent can increase.

Cameras are being used at the new South Wales Queensland border to stop the illegal movement of high risk materials that could be carrying dangerous fire ants into New South Wales. This comes after the New South Wales government added initial movement restrictions in July. Fears have been raised as seasonal demand for livestock, feed and landscaping supplies grow.

And the good news AI is being used to monitor the movements of British animals in the wild. Tens of thousands of data files and thousands of hours of audio have been used at three sites to identify the animals. Researchers believe it could help protect Britain's biodiversity.

So for the last few weeks we've been encouraging you to reach out to us and to tell us what you want to hear here on this podcast. It can be interviews or explainers, and last week someone left us a message on Spotify saying, and I'll read it out for you, please do a story on the New South Wales teachers having their pay rise promise broken by Chris Mins's governments. Our producer Nina has been on the case. Nina, welcome back to the podcast.

Thanks for having me Sam.

What can you tell me about this story.

Well, I feel like last year we were talking a lot about the teacher shortages, about teacher burnout. We did an episode called Teachers told Us they Aren't Coping. So well, yeah, we'll chuck that link in the show notes. But it does feel like we haven't spoken about this in a while, and I know from my teacher friends the issue definitely hasn't gone away.

So set the scene for me with this story. What are the main things to consider?

Well, as I said, it does all come back to that sense of teacher burnout. Before I go any further, though, Sam, I do just want to say I do know that these issues affect teachers across the whole country. This is not unique to New South Wales.

It's a national issue exactly.

But I I'm going to be speaking a little bit more about New South Wales in this episode just because it's where we've seen a lot of the industrial action and it's where we've seen this political escalation in the last few weeks. So to come back to the context, a report last week revealed that there are currently nine hundred and twenty two permanent teacher vacancies in regional and

So tell me what's happening in New South Wales.

Then, So just as a refresher, and I think we spoke a little bit about this in that podcast episode that I mentioned. In June last year, teachers in New South Wales went on a twenty four hour strike calling

So this was all happening while Dominic Pereite was the premier. He obviously lost the election to Chris Mins. He's no longer the premier. Chris Mins is in office, but this issue is still ongoing. This was actually an election issue though, So what did Chris Mins promise in his campaign.

Well, I'm sure you remember Billy Fitzsimon's editor actually interviewed Chrismins right before the election.

One thing that we keep hearing about is a significant shortage of teachers and nurses, and a major issue for both of those professions is pay. Would teachers and nurses receive a pay rise in line with or above inflation under a government you lead.

We can't promise that, and we're not going to the election promising that. What we will say is that we will sit down with essential workers in the state to

And so during the election, the Public School Teachers Union really threw their support behind Chrismins.

For teachers, this election matters, it's about you, your students, and our future.

So the union was saying that labor was committing to really sit down with them and negotiate better wages and conditions for the teachers in New South Wales.

Federation has welcomed the labor commitments and we will make sure they honor them if they win the election.

So the union was very much on Mins's side during the campaign. He ends up winning the election, Labor is instated into office.

What happens then, well, the sit down that everyone was talking about, that did happen. And remember that labor and the unions traditionally are very politically aligned, but both sides have very different accounts of what actually happened when they did sit down to have those meetings. What the union is saying is that they had negotiations in April May and again in June of this year, and that they actually reached an agreement with the government that would have

So if they reached an agreement in those discussions, where does the contention come in Well.

What the union is saying is that the government has walked away from that commitment and that they've been misled by the government, who again remember they supported during the last election campaigning on these very issues. The government did make them another offer. Both sides agree on that, but Sam, it's actually quite confusing to explain exactly what is currently

Has occurred is nothing short of an act of betrayal, a kick in the guts for every teacher. This is not over. This is not over.

So you've laid out for me what the unions are saying, but that's only one side of this. Exactly what's the government saying.

With the government and the Premier Christmins has been adamant that no agreement was actually reached. They say yes we were having your conversation, but we were still at the point of negotiation.

When the Teachers Federation jumped up from the negotiating table. We were swapping offers the night before, late into the evening, so we're always being prepared to negotiate with the teachers Federation.

The government says they understand teachers feel overwhelmed, burnt out, undervalued and underpaid, but that the deal they're now offering is a good one.

We were prepared to offer a deal to the Teachers Federation that would lift first few teachers from the second worst paid in the country to the best paid.

In the country.

And just to reiterate Sam, we aren't exactly clear on what that deal is yet, as these negotiations are ongoing behind closed doors.

And what do you think is going to happen now?

Well, I guess these negotiations continue, although after everything we've heard the last few weeks, it's fair to assume that tensions around these negotiations are certainly higher than they were initially. When he addressed the teacher's union, Gabriel Latis said, times running out.

And the government will be held to account and we will demand that they deliver on their commitments and honor the agreement that was reached.

So so far, the union hasn't called for any general strike like we saw last year, but they have asked all members to walk out on any school visits by the Premier, Deputy Premier, Minister for Education or Treasurer.

For a good fellow up or a visit exactly.

There's also been some small escalations with mini getting heckles last week and protests outside Deputy Premiere Prouka's office yesterday and more protests planned for outside Chrisman's office later today. But we also wanted to know what teachers in the TDA community had to say about all of this, and when we ask them, we got messages like this, We're.

Just asking to be paid what we're worth to keep up with inflation. Yet we get slapped in the face and then they wonder why there's a teacher shortage and why no one wants to go into the profession.

Doesn't necessarily feel like a stub in the back, but it does definitely feel like a kick in the gut. Just yeah, feeling like there might have been some real potential for change. Yeah, now that kind of seems a little bit grim.

There are a lot of kids who love school, and we do what we do for them, but it's getting harder and harder.

We'll definitely keep track of this story, and I'd also be really interested to hear how teachers in other states are fairing and what the experience is with teachers unions and other state and territory governments have been because I know this is such an important profession and such an important area for our listeners.

And I will just say, Sam, so I'm the producer of this podcast, so you know, sometimes I come on and join you, but I'm always there behind the scenes always. One of the things I love is when people send us voice notes, like we included in this episode from teachers in New South Wales, and you know, sometimes we ask for those, we'll put up a story on Instagram, but sometimes people have a story to tell them they'll just send them in without us even asking.

So the best way for someone to send in a voice note.

The best way is just to send us a dam on Instagram.

Thanks Nina for joining us on the pod today.

Thanks for having me, Sam.

And thank you for joining us on the podcast as well. If you did learn something from today's episode, we'd love to hear your reflections on it. You can leave a little Q and a note if you're listening on Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Until then, have a right day.

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