Call to arms: Educational support staff Terri Hammill and Kerry Davies pinned a letter of protest to Warrandyte MP Ryan Smith's office in Ringwood last week.
HUNDREDS of chanting public school teachers from across Maroondah and the Yarra Ranges descended on the office of Warrandyte MP Ryan Smith last Thursday.
Wearing red T-shirts and waving placards, they shouted protests against pay and working conditions offered to them in negotiations with the Baillieu government.
Terri Hammill, a science laboratory technician at Heathmont College, appeared at her first union rally alongside teachers and said the government was stripping funding from government schools when they needed to be investing it. "We're losing far too many good teachers to other industries because there's nothing to keep them here," she said.
Vice-president of the Australian Education Union Justin Mullaly said it was "clear negotiations with the government were not going anywhere". "Certainly we're looking for the government to invest in schools and invest in school staff properly so that schools have the resources to ensure that kids get the best education they possibly can."
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