TEACHERS will rally outside Bathurst MP and Deputy Premier Paul Toole's office for the second time in less than a year when they gather in Howick Street on Wednesday.
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When unhappy teachers protested outside Mr Toole's office last December about pay, staffing and workloads, Mr Toole responded by saying it was poorly timed after a year of learning disruptions due to COVID.
He also said at the time that the 2.5 per cent annual pay increase for NSW public servants, including teachers, was more than many in the private sector were guaranteed.
The NSW Teachers' Federation says the rally outside Mr Toole's office from 7.30am this Wednesday, October 12, which it says will be attended by teachers and principals, will be held in protest at the NSW Government's "plans to push through the NSW Industrial Relations Commission a new three-year award that delivers a real wage cut to the profession".
The rally in Bathurst will be part of statewide action organised by the NSW Teachers' Federation on Wednesday.
Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos said the government wants to lock in below inflation pay increases of 2.53 per cent a year despite, he said, the government admitting salaries become less competitive over a teacher's career.
"At a time when there are growing teacher shortages, we need real action on uncompetitive salaries and unsustainable workloads," he said.
"A real wage cut will only increase the shortages and make it harder to secure the teachers we need for our future.
"Right now, we have a crisis in our classrooms. Kids are missing out in public and private schools because of the shortages and teachers are burning out.
"Sixty per cent of teachers want to leave in the next five years because of the crippling workload and uncompetitive salaries that do not reflect their efforts or responsibilities."
He said the number of early career teachers leaving public schools "is also at a 13 year high".
"The government's own briefings show NSW is 'facing a large and growing shortage of teachers' and the situation is only going to get worse with rising enrolments, an ageing workforce and 30 per cent decline in the number of people studying to become a teacher," he said.
Mr Toole's Howick Street office has been the scene of a number of protests in the past six months.
Nurses, those opposed to an expansion of coal projects in the Central West, members of the Public Service Association and Unions NSW have all held separate protests outside the MP's office.
