Industrial action in schools – PV media comment

Parents Victoria CEO Gail McHardy is quoted in an article in today’s Age about the industrial action by teachers, planned for tomorrow (24 March).

Gail was also interviewed by Raf Epstein on 774 ABC Melbourne and quoted by ABC News (see below).

The Age article begins:

A last-minute plea for teachers not to walk out of their classrooms appears set to fall on deaf ears, with tens of thousands of government school educators planning to strike tomorrow.
The Australian Education Union (AEU) remains adamant that its members will push ahead with a 24-hour-stopwork action, the state’s first government-school strike in 13 years, after rejecting what it calls a “totally unacceptable” 18 per cent pay deal.

Gail is quoted as follows:

Parents Victoria, the peak group for school families, said it supported “the principle behind the strike” and that the relatively low wages paid to Victorian state school teachers was a serious threat to the quality of education in government schools.

The group’s chief executive, Gail McHardy, said parents were broadly sympathetic to the strike, but would still come under pressure juggling work and care on the day.

“[Families] can see the pressure teachers are under but that support is often tempered by concern about disruption to their children,” McHardy said. “Even among parents who support the action, there’s still the very real challenge of managing the day.

“Most families will be relying on a mix of options – taking leave, adjusting work arrangements, or leaning on extended family and friends – but that’s not easy to organise at short notice.”

Read the full Age article (subscription only)

ABC Radio interview

Gail McHardy was interviewed by Raf Epstein on 774 ABC Radio’s Morning program.

You can listen to the interview on the ABC website (skip to the 1 hour 26 minute mark).

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ABC News

Gail is quoted in an article on the ABC News website:

Gail McHardy from Parents Victoria, which advocates for parents of students in public schools, said her organisation supported the strike and she believed most parents would too.

“They can see the pressure teachers are under but that support I always tempered with concern about disruption to children, you can’t ignore that, but that’s already happening in classrooms when there are staff shortages,” she said.

“People are just fed up, they’re tired at having to battle about why Victoria is underfunded in public schooling and why our teachers are the most poorly paid.”

Read the full article