TEACHERS from TAFE NSW's Hamilton campus have called for better pay and working conditions, ahead of a full-day strike on November 2.
NSW Teachers Federation regional organiser Jack Galvin Waight said more than 30 people stopped work for an hour in protected industrial action on Tuesday - their first since 2011.
"The TAFE members highlighted salary justice as a key issue, the need for pay parity with school teachers," Mr Galvin Waight said.
"Currently TAFE teachers are [paid] 7 per cent below a school teacher and we all know the issues there, around shortages in school teachers being caused by being underpaid.
"Another big concern was excessive workloads and then not being able to attract the best and brightest from industry.
"Thirdly the end to casualisation, which has crippled TAFE and our teachers needing secure jobs to be able to train the youth of the Hunter.
"Casual work is precarious work so people flock to permanency. That's why it's not just for the teachers but for the students too, that they deserve a permanent teacher."
A spokeswoman for TAFE NSW said it was "disappointed" the federation was "encouraging" members to take industrial action, which she said "would hinder the supply of job ready graduates to industries that are already facing skills shortages".
She said TAFE NSW opted not to seek changes to provisions in the existing agreement, including productivity gains, because it wanted to pass on the government's maximum 2.53 per cent salary increase as "quickly as possible".
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