Thousands of AEU members, along with members from the PSA and IEU, marched from the gates of Adelaide Oval to Parliament House today to protest the Rann Government's failure to offer public educators an adequate enterprise offer. Rallies were also held in nine country locations around the State (reports to follow).
In Adelaide, chants of "Workers united will never be defeated" and "Hey Hey Ho Ho, J-Lo's got to go" rang out as public educators marched up King William St to take their message to government.
Teacher Anni Castine attended the rally with her colleagues and says that the Rann Government needs to lift it's game. "The Government's offer is pitiful but it (today's rally) is not about salary, it's about the mismanagement of the education dollar. It's about a funding model that will take $100,ooo dollars out of our school budget and this means less opportunity for kids."
In her address to the crowd, AEU (SA) Branch President Correna Haythorpe told members that the new government offer fails on a number of fronts.
"This new offer fails to address concerns about the proposed new funding model and falls well short of nationally competitive salaries and conditions for South Australian education workers."
"It fails to provide adequate workload protections for all members and deregulates employment conditions, particularly for School Services Officers, Aboriginal Education Workers and Early Childhood Workers", she said.
AEU Branch Executive met earlier in the week and formally rejected the new offer from the Government.
Today's half-day strike is likely to be followed by further industrial action if the State Government does not come up with a better offer soon.
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