Australia: Demand mass meetings to reject Victorian teachers' union sell-out!

Details of the proposed agreementreleased after the AEU State Council voted on May 14 to accept the governments termsmake clear that the union is attempting to ram through a new industrial contract that abandons all the demands raised by teachers in the course of their year-long struggle. Two strike-day mass meetings were held in November and February and a series of four-hour stoppages staged across the state in recent months to insist on a 30 percent pay rise over three years, maximum class size of 20 students, and a significant shift away from the use of contract teachers towards permanent positions. The AEU now expects teachers to accept an agreement that amounts to a real wage cut for many, exacerbates job insecurity and compounds the deepening crisis in the schools primary and secondary classrooms.

When news of the deal was first released on May 5more than a week before teachers had any chance to read the full termsAEU Victorian President May Bluett hailed it as a major victory. But there should be no misunderstanding. If ratified, this AEU-Labor government agreement will open the way for further severe attacks on public education.