Recent history reminds us that we should never take democracy for granted. The rising threat of authoritarian populism and the correlating growth of distrust in our social, political and cultural institutions pose serious threats to collective forms of deliberation and decision making.
The antidote to democratic decline is a commitment to increasing the number of people who are actively and critically engaged in our democratic institutions. This requires a significant program of organising and education. In several ways, our union of public school and TAFE teachers is critical to this broader democratic project.
On the morning of 28 November, more than 400 Federation members jumped out of bed just a little bit earlier than their colleagues and headed to community halls, clubs, council premises and other assorted venues right across NSW. Fed Reps, Women’s Contacts, Association Presidents, Vice Presidents, Secretaries — local teacher union leaders who volunteered to be conveners and seconders — arrived at more than 200 venues to prepare for a statewide mass meeting of thousands upon thousands of Federation members to hear reports on school Award negotiations.
Historically, recommendations of Federation’s Executive are presented on the morning of mass meetings to ensure that members receive the detail, hear reports from Senior Officers, deliberate and vote at the same time. Every effort is made to insulate our democratic decision making from the distortions of premature media analysis and the mischief of those who might seek to undermine our union.
As an extension of our Annual Conference and Council meetings, it is an exercise in industrial democracy that is the envy of many other organisations.
Members are to be congratulated for their decision to overwhelmingly endorse a new three-year salary and conditions agreement that maintains the structural reset of teacher salaries we achieved last year after a decade of wage suppression under the previous state government. It ensures our pay keeps pace with inflation while remaining competitive with other jurisdictions — critical factors in attracting and retaining the teachers our students need.
The agreement also delivers significant improvements to working conditions, including additional school development days from 2025, a new consultation framework for teachers’ work and changes to assessment and professional learning practices, among other significant measures.
A week after running mass meetings across the state, Federation’s local union leaders were at it again, organising school hall meetings of parents and teachers to highlight the negative impacts of the Albanese Government’s failure to fully fund public schools.
This year alone, NSW public schools face a $1.9 billion funding shortfall. Recent NSW Department of Education analysis reveals a stark disparity: while the federal government will provide $24.2 billion to 970 non-government schools over the next four years, only $14.3 billion is allocated to more than 2200 public schools.
Participants at the school hall meetings discussed the local implications of underfunding and lobbied the Prime Minister directly via email. More democracy in action.
The fates of democracy and public education are inextricably entwined. In this column five years ago, Maurie Mulheron reflected on that relationship.
“One very important reason why we value public education is because it is a democratic force. To weaken public education is to attack the very foundations of our democracy,” he wrote.
“It is no coincidence that [Henry] Parkes, the driving force behind the Public Instruction Act, is also known as the Father of Federation for championing the cause for Australia to become a single, unified democratic nation.”
It is incumbent upon Prime Minister Albanese to strengthen the provision of public education by fully funding our public schools. The health of our democracy is depending on it.
