The IEU’s mobile billboard truck took to the streets for two weeks in August. The truck displayed a number of messages, but the main themes were: Fix teacher shortages now! Pay support staff properly!
The union launched the truck on 20 August at the IEU’s Council meeting in Sydney (pictured top left). It then went on a non-stop tour of numerous schools and other sites all over NSW and the ACT. Wollongong, Nowra, Queanbeyan, Bathurst, Lithgow, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Armidale, Tamworth, Singleton and Maitland were just some of its stops.
At each port of call, teachers and support staff and some local MPs and mayors gathered in support of a fair deal for teachers and support staff.
The truck also attracted substantial media coverage wherever it stopped. As one member said, “it brought a ray of sunshine” into an otherwise gloomy day. The weather was poor throughout some of the truck’s journey – it even met with snow as it traversed the Blue Mountains (see Lithgow, bottom left).
