About a thousand Northern Territory public sector workers are expected to take part in industrial action over an ongoing pay dispute with the government.
Teachers and correctional officers will walk off the job in Darwin and Alice Springs on Thursday, with support from firefighters, nurses, power and water workers and Indigenous health practitioners.
“Public sector workers are furious with (Chief Minister Natasha) Fyles,” Unions NT Secretary Erina Early said on Wednesday.
“She continues with the farce of the wage freeze.”
Ms Early said the NT government was not listening to workers, who are struggling with the rising cost of living in the NT.
“Fyles continues to place her head in the sand hoping they will go away,” she said.
“They won’t and the NT government must end the freeze or prepare to lose the next election.”
The industrial action to protest the NT government’s four-year public sector pay freeze is scheduled to start at 9am in front of Parliament House in Darwin and the Alice Springs Town Council.
Teachers, firefighters and correctional officers are taking protected industrial action.
Other public sector workers will join the protests on their days off and scheduled breaks.
Minister for Business, Jobs and Training Paul Kirby said pay offers had been presented to teachers and correctional officers in recent days.
“It appears they won’t be supported from the executive, which is disappointing.
“We put a lot of work in trying to make sure that within the wages policy we had a range of improvements from entry level right through to senior corrections officers and senior teachers.”
Mr Kirby declined to say if the pay freeze would be abandoned when asked by reporters on Wednesday and instead said the negotiations with unions would continue.
The NT Education department said schools would remain open and buses would continue to operate on Thursday.
But some schools are expected to suffer timetable disruptions and classes may be combined to cope with the absence of teachers.
“Every effort will be made to minimise impacts on learning and ensure appropriate supervision is in place for students to ensure their safety and wellbeing,” a spokesman said.
Teachers walked off the job in Darwin and nearby Palmerston on August 19. It followed industrial action by correctional officers and firefighters in May and July.
The NT government’s four-year public sector pay freeze for more than 20,000 public servants was introduced in November 2020 in a bid to save more than $400 million amid ongoing territory government deficits and climbing debt levels.
It was accepted by 57 per cent of employees.