A letter to parents from the SSTUWA
23 April stop work action
Dear parents,
It is likely that your child’s public school may be closed on the morning of Tuesday 23 April 2024. If it is open, it won’t be for lessons as normal. #union#sstuwa#westernAustralia#teachers#teachersStrike#education#parents
This is because the State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia is holding a stop work action to urge the Department of Education to treat seriously negotiations for a new general agreement covering the salary and working conditions of teachers and principals.
The teaching profession in the public education system is, in the words of the Facing the Facts review chaired by former WA Premier and Federal Minister Dr Carmen Lawrence, “at breaking point and requires immediate steps to improve education and morale.”
The Education Department’s own red tape review said: “Our analysis indicates that the problem goes to the more fundamental question of whether the job of teaching as currently performed and organised is doable or sustainable.”
This situation applies to the schools your children are being educated at if you are a parent of one of the 72 per cent of primary students or 66 per cent of secondary pupils who goes to a public school.
We want the public education system fixed. We want it fixed for the benefit of teachers, principals and above all for students. This is the first stop work action teachers have taken in over a decade. That’s how serious the situation has become for our members.
The SSTUWA’s community research suggests over 80 per cent of WA voters agree that all children deserve a quality education.
We agree too and that requires better salaries and working conditions for teachers and principals.
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