TAFE teachers angry at a push to increase teaching hours have threatened strike action later this month if the NSW government doesn't resolve the dispute.
Thousands of teachers walked off the job on Tuesday morning, with about 40 stop-work meetings held across the stateto vote on the industrial action.
TAFE teachers are angry about a NSW government push to increase teaching hours and to remove the current limits on weekly teaching hours.
Teachers won a pay rise earlier this year but now the government wants to reform teaching hours to pay for the increase.
NSW Teachers Federation president Bob Lipscombe said teachers overwhelmingly voted to continue industrial action which could include work bans and a possible strike.
Teachers would strike in the week beginning August 31, Mr Lipscombe said, "if there is no satisfactory progress in this dispute".
"Members are extremely disappointed that the Premier (Nathan Rees) and Minister (Education Minister Verity Firth) have not intervened to resolve this matter in a fair and mutually agreeable way," he said in a statement.
Mr Lipscombe said the government's teaching hours proposal went too far in trying to achieve cost savings and could even cost jobs.
"These changes would mean savings to the government far greater than anything needed to fund the recent salary increases.
"They could result in thousands of part-time casuals losing their jobs or having their hours and income drastically reduced, as well as hundreds of permanent teacher positions being made redundant or not filled."
NSW Greens education spokesman John Kaye accused the Rees government of "penny pinching" by pursuing the reforms.
"These trade-offs amount to $55 million being taken away from the NSW TAFE system," Mr Kaye said in a statement.
"Taking the razor to a critical area of skills education in the current economic climate is reckless and irresponsible.
"The global economic crisis has not made the skills crisis go away - NSW can use this time to re-skill for the coming economic upturn."
However, Education Department director-general Michael Coutts-Trotter said TAFE staff had the lowest face-to-face teaching hours in Australia and urged them to move with the times.
"In order for us to continue to do the brilliant work that our teachers do for TAFE students, in order for our teachers to have secure jobs and long-term career prospects, we do have to change our ways a little bit," he told Macquarie Radio.
(www.eduwo.com, Jainlyn&Charlotte)
