TEACHERS at Newcastle's Catholic schools argue unrealistic workloads and poor pay are gutting an already overwhelmed system.
At least 100 staff stopped work for an hour on Tuesday at St Francis Xavier's College (SFX), demanding better pay and conditions.
Negotiations have dragged on for too long while teachers and students suffer the consequences, SFX year coordinator Paul Dan said.
"We're being forced to take these actions in order to see some movement going forward, we're doing this for the children, they're in classes that are oversized - they're being babysat rather than taught," he said.
"Teachers are sick of seeing their educations being thrown up against the wall due to the fact the administration that's overseeing this or regulating it is not moving with us.
"I think we are getting the job done, I know we're getting the job done but it's the toll it takes on you - it's tiring and it's really getting to the point where if I don't have to do a bit of worthless regulation I could be helping a child with special needs in my classroom."
The Independent Education Union (IEU) has said it's no closer to securing a pay deal after negotiations began in early February.
It represents more than 32,000 teachers and support staff across NSW and the ACT.
The IEU claims it has written to Catholic employers as recently as October 25 to express its members' frustration about the slow progress of negotiations and hasn't heard back.
Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle director of schools Gerard Mowbray said its leadership supports teachers and staff receiving a meaningful pay increase and improved benefits for they job they do.
"As such, we have sought to offer an improved enterprise agreement that recognises and values the vital role our teachers and support staff play in delivering a high-quality education for our students," he said.
He said the diocese will at least match public school pay increases and address pay inequity for support staff compared to the state system.
Mr Mowbray said the diocese has committed to parental leave entitlement improvements and provided a backdated pay increase for 2022 above the current enterprise agreement.
"We will continue to advocate for our teachers, but the reality is we are bound by the funding we receive from government and the fees we ask our parents to pay," he said.
Mr Dan said it's not just about better pay, but about reducing unmanageable workloads so teachers can focus on what they do best - teaching.
"We're a bit exasperated, a bit fatigued, we just want to get on and do our job and we want to see the parents and kids knowing they're coming to school and getting taught," he said.
"We're lucky at our school that we can cover each other but there's other schools around the area where kids get pulled into a hall for hours a day and all they get is supervised.
"We love teaching but the problem is you're just not getting a chance to do that anymore - you're constantly having a deadline for a piece of paper, a report."
The union claims Catholic employers, while not bound by state government school pay rises, have "dragged the chain" waiting for it.
The NSW Industrial Relations Commission handed down a decision to grant public school teachers a pay rise of 2.29 per cent in 2022 and 2.53 in 2023.
