ST XAVIER’S Primary School and St Mary’s Catholic College both joined industrial action this morning, with regular classes cancelled for three hours.
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Staff joined the unpaid industrial action which has seen hundreds of teachers across the state protest a proposed enterprise agreement.
About 800 Catholic school teachers and support staff congregated at Sydney’s Masonic Centre on Tuesday to protest.
The protestors, all dressed in red, then marched from the centre to the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations head office at Polding House on Liverpool Street, causing city streets to be temporarily closed to traffic.
Assistant principal from St Xavier’s Gunnedah, Jen Honner, said staff had voted to support the action.
“The staff chose to take this action in order to preserve the working conditions of teachers and the working conditions and pay of support staff,” she said.
“The decision to take this action was not taken lightly and the school apologises for any inconvenience it may have caused for our families.”
Both St Xavier’s and St Mary’s let parents know supervision for students would be available, but there would be no classes between 8.30 and 11.30.
Mrs Honner said in her years at St Xavier’s, there had been only one other occasion when staff had joined strike action.
“It’s not just about the money, but working conditions,” she said.
“They want to bring in standards that staff have to reach which, in theory, would work in some cases as it makes teachers more accountable, but it will be very difficult to reach these standards. For example, young female teachers who may need to take maternity leave will find it hard to reach the standards after having time off.
“They are also proposing to make support staff wages lower, which we don’t support.”
St Xavier’s support staff member Janine Kokegei said employers were saying support staff were “grossly overpaid” which was untrue.
“It makes us feel unappreciated,” she said. “We work there because we love the kids, but I could earn more packing shelves at Woolworths.”
Independent Education Union of Australia general secretary John Quessy said this week union members had vowed to return to the Sydney action “again and again.
