Teachers have walked out of a Sydney public school as the NSW premier and education minister arrived in defiance of a union ban.
Dominic Perrottet and Sarah Mitchell attended the opening of Meadowbank Public School and Marsden High School at Meadowbank Education Precinct in northwest Sydney on Wednesday.
Their arrival on the first day of term two prompted about 40 teachers to leave the campus and stand outside the school, holding signs saying “Teachers deserve more than thanks. They deserve a pay rise”.
It came after the NSW Teachers Federation executive voted on Tuesday to strike for 24 hours next Wednesday as part of a campaign for a pay rise.
The union also authorised public school teachers to walk out if NSW government MPs arrived on campus.
The premier issued a statement saying the visit was to mark the opening of five new or upgraded schools but did not address the walkout.
He acknowledged there was unrest among public sector workers over pay caps.
“We are working through these issues, and we’ll resolve them in the (June 21) budget,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Ms Mitchell criticised the planned strike, saying it would disrupt families and students.
“I’m pretty disappointed, I’m on the side of the parents here,” Ms Mitchell told radio 2GB on Wednesday.
“It’s frustrating, I think our kids have had a lot of disruption over the last couple of years.”
The union did not need to strike to negotiate a new award, she said.
“They just need to be in the (Industrial Relations Commission) with us and they will get an outcome.”
The case is due to come before the commission next month.
The teachers union suspended its industrial action in December to negotiate before accusing the government of squandering the opportunity.
Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos told AAP the teacher walk-out would have been foreseen by the government.
“There is significant feeling and anger across the teaching service an the response was exactly what we had predicted,” he said.
“The teacher shortage is caused by uncompetitive pay and unsustainable workloads,” he said.
While the national inflation figure surged to 5.1 per cent on Wednesday, the government was pursuing a three-year award rate of 2.04 per cent.
The union wants a pay rise of between five and 7.5 per cent, as well as two extra hours of planning time.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said the government’s public sector wage cap of 2.5 per cent had confirmed a brutal reality of life in NSW while inflation exceeded five per cent.
“The living standards of nurses, paramedics, firefighters, teachers and all manner of public sector workers are eroding every day this policy is in place,” he said.
“As the nation’s largest employer, the NSW government’s tight-fisted austerity is also holding back workers in the private sector from getting a pay rise that keeps pace with the cost of living.”
AAP has contacted the premier’s office for comment.
