BY DAKOTA TAIT
Catholic teachers are ramping up their industrial campaign in the Hunter on Monday, to address pay, conditions, and staff shortages in the sector.
The Independent Education Union is bringing its mobile billboard truck to St Francis Xavier's College in Hamilton from 1:45pm to 2:15pm, before heading to the Catholic Schools Office in Newcastle West at 2:30pm.
NSW ACT Secretary Mark Northam says they're calling on diocese employers and the State Government to respond.
"What we're trying to do is to really get the public onside and get our message across to the public in a reasonable way," he said. "But also to signal to our teachers and our support staff and our principals in the Independent Education Union, that the campaign is a serious campaign and it's reached a serious level."
"We have the perfect storm. There's more students coming into schools for the next decade or so, about a 10 percent increase in students, and at the same time, there's plummeting levels of people who are enrolling in education at universities, and sadly, it's got about a 50 percent attrition rate once they're in the course."
Over the coming week, the truck's set to continue north to Port Macquarie, before heading inland to Armidale and Tamworth, and returning to Singleton and Maitland.
