UNION representatives took the opportunity on Tuesday - National TAFE Day - to call for government action on declining teacher numbers.
Post schools organiser with NSW Teachers Federation, Annette Bennett, said the union's figures show a halving of TAFE employment in the last decade.
"Since 2012, our data shows that TAFE teachers and related employees have dropped from 17,000 to 8000," Ms Bennett said.
"It's hard enough to get good tradies and highly paid professionals to come out of their industries and take a pay cut. Let alone with the burdensome compliance TAFE has placed on its teacher workforce."
However, a TAFE NSW spokeswoman said "figures that the unions are referring to do not accurately reflect staffing numbers for the past 10 years".
"There are methodological reasons why data across this period is not comparable, as it was collated from obsolete systems using different calculation methods," the spokeswoman said.
TAFE's most recent annual report put total employment at 10,599 in June 2021, down from 15,822 in 2012.
An annual event, National TAFE Day is about "celebrating how TAFE has supported education and training for 130 years" according to Ms Bennett.
Usually held on campus, a request this year for the unions to host an event on Tighes Hill TAFE was denied by TAFE NSW amid ongoing enterprise agreement negotiations.
"Part of the plan was that the library services, the disability services and the councillers would come out," Ms Bennett said.
"Services that the students might not necessarily know were available to them might set up stalls."
A sausage-sizzle, speeches and performance by Newcastle People's Chorus were held at the campus' front gate from 12pm.
While the event request was declined, a TAFE NSW spokesperson said yesterday this did not affect the unions' right of entry.
Voting is currently open to TAFE union members for a protected action ballot.
Ms Bennett said yesterday the government had offered a pay rise of 2.53 per cent on a one-year enterprise agreement. The union wants 7 per cent.
Following last week's Jobs and Skills Summit held in Canberra, Ms Bennett said TAFE funding is the answer to Australia's "job crisis".
"We believe that TAFE should be the anchor institution that leads us out of the crisis that we are in," she said. "We really need investment now. Definitely investment in the TAFE teacher workforce."
Ms Bennett said the current shortages stem from the government underpaying and overworking TAFE teachers. She said the shortage means "some areas first year apprentices haven't been able to start their apprenticeship because there are no teachers and classrooms".
State organiser for the CFMEU NSW, Mark Cross, said TAFE wages are a major disincentive for new teachers to enter the profession, especially when compared with potential incomes in the construction industry. This, he said, impacts the quality and number of teachers and ultimately the students.
"I think we are going to see a real drain on resources in the coming 18 months all due to a lack of investment and training over the life of the conservative government's tenure," Mr Cross said.
"Particularly given the work we have coming up in construction. The John Hunter Hospital will haver a thousand blokes, the inner-city bypass another 250. Then we have other significant developments in town like Dairy Farmers corner."
TAFE NSW said it "prides itself on having passionate and industry current teachers".
"In 2021, we recruited over 200 new teachers as part of a state-wide recruitment drive for teachers in high-demand areas of Aged Care, Plumbing, Electrotechnology and Early Childhood," the spokeswoman said. "
We've also funded more than 1,000 scholarships to encourage the best and brightest from Industry to become TAFE NSW teachers, with more on the way."
Alongside Ms Bennett and Mr Cross, Newcastle state MP Tim Crakanthorp spoke at the event. He said it was a "disappointing" decision by the TAFE to not allow an event to go ahead on-campus and called out the state liberal government for a lack of TAFE support.
On Tuesday, the Australian Education Union praised an announcement by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Jobs and Skills Summit last week, of a $1.1bn funding package for 180,000 fee-free TAFE places across Australia.
"With a stable and secure investment stream, TAFE can address skills shortages in the Australian labour market and create a robust pipeline of trained workers backed by high quality skills education," AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said.
"National TAFE Day is the perfect opportunity to start thinking about what is next for TAFE. As the details of the new funding agreements are developed, TAFE teachers must have a voice at the table through the union."
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