NSW: Catholic school teachers to hold stop-work action

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-2008
NSW: Catholic school teachers to hold stop-work action

SYDNEY, Dec 1 AAP - Teachers at up to 600 Catholic schools around NSW will hold stopwork
meetings on Tuesday in support of a five per cent pay rise claim.

The Independent Education Union expects teachers to stop work for one hour from 9am
(AEDT) to discuss a current 2.5 per cent pay rise offer.

"Catholic ... school employers have followed the NSW Department of Education's lead
and offered the Independent Education Union a 2.5 per cent 'interim' increase from January
1," union general secretary Dick Shearman said in a statement on Monday.

"(The) stopwork allows teachers to demonstrate opposition to the employer's refusal
to consider our claim and the possibility of losing existing working conditions under
a new award to apply from 2009."

The move follows recent industrial action by NSW public school teachers who are protesting
over wage rises and changes to the teacher transfer system.

Public teachers held a two-hour stop work meeting last month and have not ruled out
a two-day strike at the start of the next school year if their concerns are not met.

Mr Shearman said Catholic school teachers would also consider further action, possibly
a one-day strike in February, if they don't achieve a satisfactory outcome.

Supervision will be provided for students during Tuesday's stopwork meeting, the union said.

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KEYWORD: TEACHERS NSW

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