Thousands of Tasmanian public school teachers will walk off the job and strike at lunchtime next Wednesday, with the education department tight-lipped about whether it will cause schools to close for the whole day or end classes hours early.
Australian Education Union state president David Genford confirmed teachers and support staff would take part in rallies campaigning for better pay and conditions for public servants.
"We believe all our members will be walking offsite from 12:30pm on Wednesday," he said.
"The department will need to make a decision as to whether or not schools are still open on that morning and then parents will need to pick up students or if they're able to work with the Department of State Growth to organise school buses; we are still unsure at this stage."
Union leaders told Tasmanians the industrial action would be disruptive, reminiscent of 2019 strike action that forced more than 100 schools to either close early or open late.
Mr Genford said teachers were "fed up" with high workloads and staff shortages, and industrial action was needed to get a formal pay offer that addressed those concerns.
"We do not take this action lightly, but the situation in schools is so serious that we feel as though we have no other option," he said.
"We need this government to be able to stand up and fight to improve public education in this state, and that is being able to put forward things that could recruit and retain teachers and support staff, and at the moment that is not on the table."
The government's latest pay offer, tabled on Friday, included a 9.5 per cent pay rise over three years, plus $2,500 in one-off bonuses to all workers.
Workers with a full-time equivalent salary of $72,000 or less would also get an extra $500 each year, plus a further $2,000 in one-off bonuses.
The government characterised the offer as fair and reasonable, but Mr Genford said he was unable to put it to members as it did not contain measures to improve working conditions.
A Department of Education, Children and Young People spokesperson said the strike action would do "nothing to progress negotiations and will only be disruptive to student learning and the broader community".
"Should stop-work action occur, the department will consider the impact any proposed action will have on the operation of schools, as well as other DECYP sites, and appropriate information will be provided to all managers and principals, together with communications for school communities," the spokesperson said.
Union accused of 'targeting' school exams
Education Minister Roger Jaensch accused the education union of "targeting" year 11 and 12 exams with the strike action.
"It's a very important period for [students], we need them to be calm and settled, to know what's going on and to not be disrupted," he said.
But Mr Genford said the industrial action had been devised to minimise disruption for year 11 and 12 students, with teachers and support staff assisting with the exam period or helping students to prepare to be exempted.
"The only exception we are granting is for all those teachers and support staff that are involved in exams, we have made it quite clear to the department that we don't want to impact exams; this is an important time for grade 11 and 12 students," he said.
He said Mr Jaensch appearing "unaware of the state's exam supervision arrangement shows just how out of touch the Rockliff government is when it comes to the needs of our schools and students".
"The minister should retract his statement as it is factually incorrect and will only needlessly confuse and worry students and parents."
Mr Jaensch said it was too early to announce whether schools would operate at all, or for how long, on Wednesday.
"We need to look very carefully at how we ensure that our schools are able to provide a duty of care for students and we need to understand what the disruption is likely to be, we want to hear more from the unions," he said.
