00:00A school day starts hours later than normal. Stop work action by teachers forcing parents
00:09and kids to modify morning routines.
00:13I think it's weird, so weird.
00:15We had to stay home, I work full time so it's a bit frustrating to have a nurse to sit around
00:19all day.
00:20What do we want?
00:21Fair time!
00:22When do we want it?
00:23Now!
00:24Tasmanian public school staff rallying alongside other state service workers, say they're feeling
00:31undervalued and disrespected by the state government.
00:35Teachers working environments are our students learning environments and every day we're
00:40pretty well letting our students down with the conditions that we're put under.
00:43The striking workers included firefighters, park rangers, child safety staff and North West
00:50Regional Hospital workers.
00:52I've been there for 28 years, I've done trolleys, I've done kitchen hand and it's
00:57actually the worst it's ever been and we're on the lowest wage for the rest of the hospital.
01:03The government is offering state service workers a one off 3% pay rise.
01:09But the unions say that does not address the cost of living and workforce retention challenges.
01:14The reality is that workers are extremely angry, they're not going to stop until the government
01:20actually treat them with respect.
01:22And that's what this is about, fair wages, fair conditions.
01:25No union takes stop work action lightly.
01:29A lot of thought has been put into this and it's come about simply because Jeremy Rucliffe
01:33has failed to listen to his own workforce.
01:36The education minister says the government intends to continue negotiations.
01:41It's really important to remember that this was just an offer for 12 months.
01:46To try and get a 3% pay rise into the pockets of public servants before Christmas while we
01:51work our way through a longer term agreement.
01:54The effects of the industrial action will spread to other parts of the state this week.
01:59With stop work meetings closing public schools in the north tomorrow morning and in the south
02:04on Thursday morning.
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