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Speaker 1: Are going to be finding out a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about this day of action. So what we do know

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Speaker 1: is Northern Territory Government unions union members are going to

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Speaker 1: be partaking in a day of action on the first

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Speaker 1: of September. Now it is in response to the government's

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Speaker 1: refusal to lose the wage freeze, they say. And joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line to tell us more about what

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Speaker 1: is planned is Michelle Airs, who is a union's NTE

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Speaker 1: executive and also the Australian Education Union President. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, Michelle.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, thank you.

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Speaker 1: So much for your time this morning. Now, Michelle, this

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Speaker 1: action is planned for next Thursday. Who's going to be

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Speaker 1: taking part Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So next Thursday, teachers and corrections officers will be worth

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Speaker 2: walking off the job all day. But we've also got

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Speaker 2: alliance between ANTIPS workers from firefighters, teachers of our powered

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Speaker 2: what are medical officers, our Aboriginal health practitioners, nurses and

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Speaker 2: midwives and there's a couple of others as well.

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Speaker 1: Now, why is this happening? Why has it been deemed

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Speaker 1: that this action is necessary?

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Speaker 2: You all know about the government wage freeze policy that

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Speaker 2: we've been fighting against for the last year. We have

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Speaker 2: a number of public sector workers in all of the

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Speaker 2: public sector workers in the Northern Territory are currently under

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Speaker 2: that policy, whether they're agreed to an agreement or not.

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Speaker 2: Wages have been effectively frozen at the twenty twenty one level,

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Speaker 2: and we're seeing CPI increases, We're seeing people struggling with

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Speaker 2: the cost of living, and it's meaning that territorians are

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Speaker 2: seriously questioning whether or not they're going to stay here

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Speaker 2: in the territory or head to other sectors. The people

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Speaker 2: who are still under this agreement are basically our essential

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Speaker 2: workers in the Northern Territory. You've got your teachers, you've

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Speaker 2: got your doctors and nurses, you've got your power and

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Speaker 2: water workers. If we are unable to attract new people

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Speaker 2: here to replace the people who are currently leaving, we're

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Speaker 2: going to see a real problem in thelign territory.

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Speaker 1: So, I mean, this is a big call. This is

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Speaker 1: going to be massive. This day of action, I would

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Speaker 1: suspect next Thursday. The fact is we're going to see

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Speaker 1: teachers walking off the job again. We're also going to

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Speaker 1: see those correctional officers not working for a twelve hour period.

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Speaker 1: So does I'm assuming that this means that there's not

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Speaker 1: going to be sort of any classes next Thursday, or

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Speaker 1: that we're going to be in a situation again where

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Speaker 1: the kids won't be involved in their usual classes.

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Speaker 2: The Department of Education have said that schools will remain open,

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Speaker 2: and that's the Department of Education who are responsible for

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Speaker 2: delivering education on that day.

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Speaker 1: And Michelle, you know, I guess the thing is, it's

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Speaker 1: a big call for the teachers to go down this

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Speaker 1: path again. So quickly after Friday's rally or that action

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Speaker 1: that was taken on Friday, have the government come to

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Speaker 1: the table in any way, shape or form when it

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Speaker 1: comes to our teachers and education staff.

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Speaker 2: Haven't re engaged in any negotiations with the government. We

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Speaker 2: are seeking a dialogue with them and people in Parliament

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Speaker 2: who can help to change this policy or helped to

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Speaker 2: provide our teachers with an offer that's better than nothing.

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Speaker 2: But at the moment we are yet to re engage,

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Speaker 2: especially in the negotiations.

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Speaker 1: And Michelle, what about those corrections offices? What are they

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Speaker 1: going to be planning for next Thursday?

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Speaker 2: So we have a day at Parliament House, We'll have

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Speaker 2: a rally that goes from a day of action that

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Speaker 2: goes from nine until five point thirty with different activities,

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Speaker 2: different speakers, different moments of rallying that will include the

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Speaker 2: corrections officers and the teachers and whoever else is able

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Speaker 2: to join us from across the public spector. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: it's going to be a good day.

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Speaker 1: Now, what I mean, what kind of disruptions is it

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Speaker 1: going to cause? Do you think when it comes to

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Speaker 1: you to corrections or to education and those other areas,

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Speaker 1: Because I know a lot of people listening are probably

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Speaker 1: pretty support what is particularly of the plant of the

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Speaker 1: teachers at this point in time, but a lot of

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Speaker 1: them are probably wondering what kind of disruption could this

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Speaker 1: potentially cause.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it does cause disruptions to schools, and

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Speaker 2: I'm sure it will cause disruptions to corrections, although that's

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Speaker 2: not my area of expertise. The issue is that what

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Speaker 2: it is doing is it's demonstrating to the government what

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Speaker 2: will happen if they don't change this policy. We have

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Speaker 2: survey data from the Education Union shows us that could

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Speaker 2: be up to fifty per cent of teachers considering leaving

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory at the end of the year. So

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Speaker 2: what this will do is demonstrate these teachers might not

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Speaker 2: be in front of these kids next year anyway, and

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Speaker 2: this is what it would look like. So it's time

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Speaker 2: for the government to change this policy.

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Speaker 1: Wow, fifty percent, Michelle, when was that survey conducted. That's

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Speaker 1: a bit of a concern.

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Speaker 2: That survey was conducted at the end of last term,

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Speaker 2: and obviously it was a survey of our members, so

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Speaker 2: it's an indication and not a specific fact. But it

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Speaker 2: was up to fifty percent of respondents to that survey

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Speaker 2: that said that they were considering moving on. And I'm

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Speaker 2: not one to blame them with the conditions that we're

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Speaker 2: looking at in the Northern Territory at the moment, especially

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Speaker 2: the costs of living in Darwin and Alice Springs where

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Speaker 2: the majority of our members live, and they're looking at

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Speaker 2: their pay being frozen at the twenty twenty one level

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Speaker 2: until twenty twenty five. That's a pretty huge thing. When

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Speaker 2: we're seeing prey rises offered throughout Australia in the different sectors.

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Speaker 1: Michelle, what exactly are our public servants, because we're talking

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Speaker 1: about our frontline public servants here mostly aren't we for

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Speaker 1: Thursday next week? Like you've touched on, you know, our teachers,

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Speaker 1: our correction staff. You know, the fieries obviously, the Aboriginal

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Speaker 1: health practitioners, power and water workers, et cetera. A lot

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Speaker 1: of them frontline workers. You know what are they hoping

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Speaker 1: that this day of action next Thursday is going to.

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Speaker 2: See our I guess our main goal is that the government,

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Speaker 2: but also I guess the public will see what the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory public sector is to the Northern Territory. These

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Speaker 2: are the people that keep the lights on. These are

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Speaker 2: the people that keep our kids learning, that keep our

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Speaker 2: medical our hospitals going. And so it's this isn't a

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Speaker 2: small part of the Northern Territory. The people who are

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Speaker 2: facing their pay frees are the backbone of what happens

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Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory. They're the boots on the ground,

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Speaker 2: the people delivering the essential services. And we're really hoping

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Speaker 2: that this alliance between our unions helps the public and

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Speaker 2: the government to see that this will be a real

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Speaker 2: problem if it is a change.

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Speaker 1: Michelle, Have any of the workers that are that are

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Speaker 1: going to be taking part in this in this day

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Speaker 1: of action have any of them received that that pay

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Speaker 1: bonus or are we talking here about the workers that

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Speaker 1: have refused it and are still waiting, you know, for

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Speaker 1: the government to come to the time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this day of action is across the entire Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory public sector. So we're inviting anyone who is a

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Speaker 2: public sector worker, whether they have agreed to the General Agreement,

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Speaker 2: where they will have already received their four thousand dollars bonus,

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Speaker 2: or whether they they're in one of the other agreements

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Speaker 2: that are still being negotiated. There is a clause in

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Speaker 2: the General Agreement that means that if the wages policy breaks,

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Speaker 2: it will roll on, or there'll be a determination done

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Speaker 2: to roll on some of the benefits the General Agreement. Sorry,

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Speaker 2: this story isn't over for any public sector worker, the

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Speaker 2: ones that we're currently able to make a difference for

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Speaker 2: as far as negotiations other ones that haven't been negotiated,

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Speaker 2: as those will be the majority of the people will

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Speaker 2: see out on Thursday. But we're inviting the entire Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory public sector to join us where they're able.

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Speaker 1: To Michelle, what's the message to any territory in listening

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Speaker 1: this morning who thinking to themselves that you know that

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Speaker 1: public servants or that those taking part in the Day

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Speaker 1: of action are just being greedy.

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Speaker 2: The message to that is, well, I can speak on behalf.

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Speaker 2: I am a teacher, and I can speak on behalf

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Speaker 2: of the teachers I talk to. The teachers I talk

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Speaker 2: to do not want to walk away from classes. They

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Speaker 2: are educators who want to be in classrooms educating children.

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Speaker 2: In order to ask a teacher to walk away from

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Speaker 2: a classroom, they have to have a purpose or a

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Speaker 2: need or a reason to do that. So the reason

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Speaker 2: that teachers are walking away from classrooms is because they

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Speaker 2: see that this policy isn't going to change any other way,

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Speaker 2: because we've tried for the last year to change it

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Speaker 2: and it hasn't changed. And they see that if we

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Speaker 2: don't take action, there's going to be a real problem

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Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory and the kids that they're educating

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Speaker 2: are not going to have teachers in the near future.

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Speaker 2: And that is really concerned to the teachers I talked

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Speaker 2: to quite often, the principles I talked to, And so

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Speaker 2: that is why I believe that the like you can

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Speaker 2: broaden that out the entire public sector. These people care about,

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Speaker 2: you know, edge jobs.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. We even got a message, you know, from the

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Speaker 1: husband of a teacher last week and he'd said to us.

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Speaker 1: You know, Katie, my wife still went into school before

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Speaker 1: she went on strike on Friday so that she could

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Speaker 1: make sure that the kids in her classroom had everything

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Speaker 1: that they needed for the day. And you know, to me,

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Speaker 1: that exemplified the job that a lot of our wonderful

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Speaker 1: teachers do. That, even on a day where they were

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Speaker 1: taking action, you know, for better pay and conditions and

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Speaker 1: to try to get the government to listen, that she'd

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Speaker 1: still gone into the classroom to make sure that everything

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Speaker 1: was going to run smoothly for the kids that she

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Speaker 1: teaches every day.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's one of the real issues with the

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Speaker 2: way that our government treats teachers is that what's happened

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Speaker 2: is rather than paying them well or rather than education

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Speaker 2: system being funded strongly, the teacher's care factor has been

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Speaker 2: commodified and really relied upon to fill in the gap

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Speaker 2: where people are leaving. The teachers will step up and

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Speaker 2: do more and more so that the kids don't miss out.

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Speaker 2: The problem with that is if they continue to commoditize

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Speaker 2: that care factor, it will burn the teachers out. We

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Speaker 2: should be allowing that care factor to do what it's

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Speaker 2: meant to do, which is care for the kids well.

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Speaker 1: Michelle Airs, I really appreciate your time this morning. Of course,

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Speaker 1: the Australian Education Union president and also on the executive

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Speaker 1: of union's NT we appreciate you speaking to us today

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Speaker 1: and please keep in contact or we'll keep in contact

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Speaker 1: to find out how things go next Thursday. But thanks

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Speaker 1: for having a chat this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks, it's key.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,