23/10/2025
The union is the people. The people voted to strike.
The support staff offer is a joke. It wasn't just about pay. Yes, we chose the mahi but in order to be our best for the kids there are some things that would help the environment.
Here's the environment:
1. Most teachers adore their support staff. Some treat them like servants to do the jobs that they don't want to do.
2. There is no induction... sink or swim.
3. You lead with your heart, work with the child who has the funding, and often, you don't know how to best help because there is no training.
4. You figure it out though using the internet, picking teachers' brains, trial by fire, and you definitely start weekday drinking, feel like a failure, and cry often.
5.You work in classes that are constantly some level of loud, in close proximity to 23-28 germy children.
6. Your sick days disappear if your own kid is sick, and then when it's time for you to be sick, you just gotta work through it or lose the pay.
7. You get to know the kids in ways the teachers can't always get to... understand their triggers, when they are off, their favorite rewards, their fears and their loves.
8. We will clean all the messes, do all the jobs, and take a beating from an 8 year old.
9. Our hours and jobs are often the first to be cut because there is no funding and the school can't afford us.... but the school can't afford not to have us because of the support we bring to their class spaces.
10. We often have all these extra skills gained from a lifetime of doing something else that are engaged daily - negotiation, mediation, language, persuasion, reasoning, running, descalating, calming, cheerleading, motivating, hide n seek (mainly seek), listening, problem solving, nurturing, sarcasm, wit...
11. If we use our own car to drive students to camp, our petrol is worth less than a teachers.
When will there be real changes made to positively impact classroom environments and support the diverse needs of our children in a way the values the contribution support staff bring to their schools?
The union is the people and the people voted strike!
