The ballot for the Agreement in Principle 2023 (Schools) closed at 4pm on Thursday 4 July.
The result was 70.5 per cent of those members who voted were in favour, 29.13 per cent against and 0.37 per cent abstained.
In all 7,797 votes were received, the highest to date in Agreement in Principle votes conducted by the SSTUWA. The SSTUWA now hopes the agreement is registered with the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission as soon as possible allowing for back pay and the claims and conditions to begin to flow to members.
Moving forward the SSTUWA will be engaging members and the broader public in a community campaign on the issue of class sizes.
Whilst gains were made on the management of oversize classes through this agreement, the new measures must be monitored to assess their effectiveness as well as the extent of class size issues across the system. This will require broad membership support.
The union will also be ensuring the new Workload Ministerial Taskforce begins operations immediately so that the extensive issues affecting members and taking teachers away from actual teaching can be addressed urgently.
With both state and federal elections due in the first half of 2025 the SSTUWA will be seeking to ensure public education, including the ongoing campaign for genuine full funding, becomes a central issue in both elections.
We wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we live and work. We wish to pay respect to their Elders - past, present and future - and acknowledge the important role all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play within Australia. We stand in solidarity.
Authorised by Mary Franklyn, General Secretary, The State School Teachers' Union of W.A.
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