Tamworth's teachers have threatened to go on strike if the state government refuses to drop a plan to slash their wages - and have pressured the local MP to back their campaign.
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Teachers' Federation members rallied on Tuesday outside the electorate office of Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson, to demand he back the union's position.
Teachers' Federation Deputy President Henry Rajendra told the Leader that his National Party colleague Adam Marshall had done just that on Monday.
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With inflation running at about 3.5 per cent, a government wage cap of 2.04 per cent was tantamount to a cut in real terms, he said. Mr Rajendra said they were hopeful Mr Anderson would back their demands for a rise of 5 to 7.5 per cent every year for two years.
"We're hopeful, in the sense that if he understands his own communities, and also understands what's going on in our public schools, he has no choice but to support this campaign," he said.
"Not to do so would come at a big price. Whatever schools are suffering with now in terms of the chronic teacher shortages will only get worse."
The federation-funded Gallop Inquiry into the work of teachers found that uncompetitive salaries for teachers and unsustainable workloads were leading to teacher shortages.
Mr Rajendra said there were 77 unfilled teaching positions in the Tamworth electorate alone, which he labelled "totally unacceptable".
Mr Anderson was out of town on Tuesday for a meeting of the crisis cabinet, but said he backed teachers, without clearly committing to the union's More Than Thanks campaign.
"I know that the Teachers' Federation raised a number of issues in the Gallop report, and I am confident that the Government is working through those issues to ensure that the schoolroom remains focused on what matters most - leading, teaching and supporting students," he said.
"I thank our local teachers for raising these issues with me directly, so that I can continue to feed any local concerns through to the minister for education."
The federation went on strike last year, and Mr Rajendra flagged that the union would vote later this month whether to do so again.
Asked if the union could escalate industrial action by walking off the job for multiple days, he said that "all options are on the table".
"The premier can avert all this by settling this matter, that's as simple as that," he said.
Tamworth federation country organiser Katie Sullivan said the local branch is "ready" for strike action.
"They're ready to go, they understand the importance of this campaign," she said.
"It's not only their working conditions, it's the students learning conditions."
As a teacher in a small school, Ms Sullivan had personally been forced to cancel leave - and even close the school - in case of a personal or health crisis, due to shortages of teachers, she said.
The federation claims there are 2300 vacant teacher roles across NSW, a number which has nearly doubled from 2021.
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