1. Overview
During the midpoint of 2004, Australia stood poised for a 'significant' breakthrough in the salaries and status of educators, as it awaited the critical decision of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC). It was a decision that would surely have a 'domino effect' throughout Australia, and whose ramifications had already encompassed NSW and Victoria. It came after a year of political manipulation and negotiation, and more importantly, large scale industrial action. However, the issue not only stemmed from governmental policies regarding salaries and conditions, but also from the discrepancies in school funding along socially biased lines.
The initiator of the NSW Teachers dispute was the 'Vinson Inquiry' of 2001 which criticised the state of public education in NSW, particularly in regards to teacher's salaries and conditions of employment. However, the underlying triggers were the demands of the dissatisfied NSW teacher fraternity for a 25% wage increase and better working conditions, and their request for greater parity in wages between the public and private sectors.
There were several actors involved in the dispute and these included: New South Wales teacher's (particularly those from the public sector), the union representative of NSW teachers (NSW Teacher's Federation), the current NSW State government (Carr Labor government), NSW Education Minister Andrew Refshauge, Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) and the Federal government (Howard Coalition Government).
There were several key events, and varying actions undertaken by the industrial relations actors in this dispute. Firstly, the seeds of the dispute were planted on 11 April, 2004 by the Federal government, when it increased funding to catholic schools by 25%.
This was followed on 10 May, 2004 when the AIRC released a report which confirmed that NSW teacher's salaries had fallen by 21% between 1988 and 2002 in relation to real wages. Subsequently, a vote (organised by...