Working conditions

Schools close as teachers walk off the job in South Australia

Noticias
Oceania/ Australia/ 02.07.2019/ Source: www.9news.com.au,
Members of the Australian Education Union today rallied outside Parliament House in Adelaide with similar protests held at Whyalla, Port Lincoln and Mt Gambier.
The union says the action has not been taken lightly as it fights for a better education system for its members and for children.
It recently rejected an offer of a 2.35 per cent annual pay rise from the government along with other changes to working conditions.
So far 258 schools have indicated they will close because of the industrial action but Treasurer Rob Lucas says that means 676 of the state’s 934 primary, secondary and pre-schools will stay open, some with modified programs.
«While we recognise the fact that there will still be significant disruption and inconvenience to parents, grandparents and students, it’s clear the union bosses have not attracted the level of support that they were seeking from school communities.
“And while we respect their right to industrial action, we have made it quite clear that no amount of chanting, waving placards and singing is going to make more money magically appear in the budget.
teacher's strike
The union claims the action is necessary to ensure better conditions for staff and students. (9News)
“The government’s offer provides millions in additional funding for schools with higher levels of complexity, for highly-accomplished and lead teachers and also country incentives.»
Despite those concerns, the State Treasurer has said the pay offer is above inflation – and South Australia cannot afford any more.
«No amount of protest action is going to give me, as the Treasurer, any more money to be able to afford an anymore generous increase of salary,» Rob Lucas said.
The union said working conditions for teachers continued to have an impact on the learning environment for students.
“We think that is too important to compromise,» it said.
Source of the notice: https://www.9news.com.au/national/schools-closed-teachers-strike-250-walk-off-job-over-pay-dispute-south-australia-news/69fd8b0f-7376-4622-83dc-530ccb4a1093
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EEUU: Continuing the Teachers’ Fight in West Virginia

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América del Norte/EEUU/by 

Resumen: los maestros en West Virginia iniciaron una ola de huelgas en varios estados el invierno pasado cuando cerraron todas las escuelas del estado por sus bajos salarios, condiciones laborales pésimas y, lo que es más importante, los problemas con la Agencia de Seguros para Empleados Públicos (PEIA), el sistema que asegura a todos los empleados públicos en el estado. Ganaron un aumento, pero la pelea más grande, dice Rebecca Diamond, maestra de Virginia Occidental y miembro de la Federación Estadounidense de Maestros-West Virginia, todavía está en curso: la lucha para arreglar y financiar completamente a PEIA. Hablé con Diamond recientemente en Netroots Nation.

The West Virginia teachers won a raise, but the biggest fight, says Rebecca Diamond, teacher and member of the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia, is still ongoing.

The teachers in West Virginia kicked off a multi-state strike wave last winter when they shuttered every school in the state over their consistently low wages, lousy working conditions, and most importantly, their broken Public Employee Insurance Agency (PEIA), the system that insures every public employee in the state. They won a raise, but the biggest fight, says Rebecca Diamond, a West Virginia teacher and member of the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia, is still ongoing–the fight to fix and fully fund PEIA. I spoke with Diamond recently at Netroots Nation.

Outtake:

“They have had task force meetings and they have gone to all the communities and they have basically gathered from the communities what their main concerns are with PEIA and how it is going to affect them. These panel members are supposed to take it back to the committee and then, they are all supposed to meet and they are supposed to have a decision made before the election – Surprise! – and come up with what they feel like is going to be a solution.

The only solution that I feel like is going to suffice for teachers is if there is a funding source for it. If there is not a funding source for it…which, they have known for the last five years that there was not a funding source for PEIA. They basically just continued to put it on the backburner, because we have not done anything about it. And it is not just teachers, it is every state employee in the State of West Virginia. It is not like they were just hit by a truck and realized that, ‘How are we going to pay for that PEIA? What are we going to do for it?’

We have given them options. People have given them options to fund PEIA, but nobody wants to take the initiative to make that a funding source for PEIA.”

Fuente: http://progressive.org/dispatches/continuing-the-teachers-fight-in-west-virginia-180815/

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