{"id":681674,"date":"2026-03-25T22:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/681674\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T22:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:04:16","slug":"teachers-strike-closes-southern-tasmanian-government-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/681674\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers’ strike closes southern Tasmanian government schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

All public schools in southern Tasmania will be closed today following statewide industrial action this week.<\/p>\n

Public school teachers and staff in southern Tasmania are expected to gather in the hundreds today as they demand better pay and conditions.<\/p>\n

This follows the Australian Education Union (AEU) knocking back the Tasmanian government’s latest pay offer on Friday last week.<\/p>\n

AEU Tasmania branch president David Genford told ABC Radio Hobart the union announced the planned strike more than two weeks ago to help families plan ahead.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been involved previously where things came down to the wire, and the feedback we got was that it wasn’t fair on the community,” Mr Genford said.<\/p>\n

“That’s why we announced this two-and-a-half weeks ago, and it’s why we need to go through with it now that the deadline has passed.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Images<\/p>\n

Teachers rallied in Launceston as part of the industrial action. (ABC News: Mackenzie Archer)<\/p>\n

Mr Genford said they were expecting a major turnout at the Hobart strike following record numbers in the north and north-west earlier this week.<\/p>\n

“We thought we wouldn’t get this many people, and to see so many people turn up, really demonstrates the members’ voice of speaking up and saying, ‘This is not okay,'” Mr Genford said.<\/p>\n

“Such a great turnout for the members, and the government really needs to take notice that this isn’t a political game, these are real-life people standing up and saying, ‘Please make this deal happen.'”<\/p>\n

Offer ‘getting closer’, but more needed, union says<\/p>\n

The government’s proposal included a 3 per cent pay rise in year one, 3 per cent in year two, and 2.75 per cent in year three, as well as incentives and conditions.<\/p>\n

Mr Genford said the government’s offer was “getting closer”, but it still had significant issues.<\/p>\n

He said some details in the offer were unclear, including a line stating that unions would “agree to right-size the workforce”.<\/p>\n

“We know publicly the government has said they want to lose 2,800 jobs by 2032,” Mr Genford said.<\/p>\n

“I’m not going to be part of an agreement that says the unions agree to get rid of one in four people from the public sector.<\/p>\n

“Things like that, when they’re put into an agreement, make things very difficult from our perspective, and we’d like to see the government not put that type of wording in.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Images<\/p>\n

Lucie Cornelius and Calum Hendry took part in the strike in Launceston. (ABC News: Mackenzie Archer)<\/p>\n

Bicheno Primary School teacher Lucie Cornelius says she is at breaking point.<\/p>\n

“I have been teaching in regional schools for 20 years now, and it has always been hard, but now it’s impossible,” Ms Cornelius said.<\/p>\n

“Every night you go home, and you feel like you’re at breaking point and question whether you can do it the next day, but every day we go back to work because this job is so important.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ms Cornelius said teachers were often juggling multiple learning plans with practically zero support.<\/p>\n

“There’s nowhere near enough support, and that’s heartbreaking as a teacher not to be able to provide the students in your class with the support they need,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We have the capacity as educators to provide them with the best education they need, but we don’t have the resources to deliver it.”<\/p>\n

Prospect high school teacher Calum Hendry started in the sector only four years ago but has had to drop down to part-time this year to manage the burnout.<\/p>\n

He faced the Launceston crowds yesterday as part of the strike action.<\/p>\n

“The main reason I’m here is for the kids that I teach because I really think that they’re being let down by a system that’s failing them.” Mr Hendry said.<\/p>\n

He said classrooms needed more support from teacher aides.<\/p>\n

“By ourselves, it’s almost impossible to cater for all kids, and some fall through the cracks and get left behind,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

“As public schools, it should be top education, but at the moment, because public schools are being left behind, they’re not being funded, they’re not getting what they deserve.”<\/p>\n

Mr Genford says if a deal is not made by the end of the month, the union will escalate its actions.<\/p>\n

“We are working towards the 31st of March, that is the deadline the government set when it comes to back pay,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But we’re aware that if nothing happens, then we will need to escalate our actions.<\/p>\n

“For us, that would see increases in work bans. I would also look at further strike action early in term two.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

‘Disappointing’ that offer rejected, minister says<\/p>\n

In a statement, Education Minister Jo Palmer said: “There is an offer on the table to ensure our hardworking teachers get a pay rise, more allowances and improved conditions.<\/p>\n

\n

“I don’t want to see disruption to students, families or businesses. I will continue to work through this process, negotiating with the unions in good faith.<\/p>\n

“The proposal on the table for teachers has been worked through hand-in-hand with the unions over the past months, and it’s really disappointing that the Australian Education Union rejected the offer without putting it to teachers for a vote.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All public schools in southern Tasmania will be closed today following statewide industrial action this week. Public school…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":681675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[286549,4740,50,3060,37168,286550,22598],"class_list":["post-681674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-aeu","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-schools","tag-tasmanian-government","tag-tasmanian-teacers-strike","tag-teachers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116292084470864931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}