Public Service Announcement for NSW residents on why you will likely see public school teacher strike action when we return to school next year.
Today I boxed, labelled, relocated and stored the fiction and junior fiction sections of our school library, about 2,500 books, in preparation for works to be carried out over the holiday period. Non fiction, shelving and furniture is tomorrow. This was after a 13-hour day yesterday setting up, supervising and packing down our Year Six Graduation events.
Over the last fortnight alone I have engaged in activities that required me to act as: teacher, lighting engineer, sound engineer, events organiser, school nurse, traffic controller, counsellor, conflict mediator, waiter, cook, data analyst, report writer, editor, welfare officer, forward planner, social worker, events promoter, general handyman, florist, comedian, cleaner, removalist and a bloody myriad of others that I’m too tired to think of.
When our scandal-ridden, pork barrelling State government next tries to convince you that ‘teachers’ are the problem – please don’t believe the spin.
We strike to highlight their ineptitude in creating the necessary conditions conducive to the educational excellence they purport to strive for. We strike because we bloody well CARE about the children in our care, their families and the community that we live in. We strike because ‘Thanks’ is not enough… Oh, and like so many of the hours we put in, we don’t get paid to do it.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
