Huge strike as 600 public school teachers set to walk off the job in Tamworth

New England and North West regional organiser Katie Sullivan said the Teachers' Federation expects "upwards of 600" teachers to congregate at the Tamworth town hall for a stop work meeting.

It will be the biggest 24-hour strike in a decade, dwarfing a strike in December, and most of the city's schools will close.

"We're recommending that students stay home for the day as there will be minimal supervision at school, there won't be normal classes," Ms Sullivan said.

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She said the union wants a wage increase of between five and 7.5 per cent - which would require an end to the state's 2.5 per cent wage cap - and for teachers to get two more hours out of the classroom to do planning.

"Teachers are working up 60 hours a week doing planning, prep, data collection, a lot of extra duties that aren't part of their duties," she said.

Workloads are getting so intense, that as many as three-in-four teachers told the union in a recent survey their workload is "unmanageable", she said.

Some 70 per cent are considering leaving education.

Premier Dominic Perrottet has already flagged that the decade-old legislated cap that holds public sector wage increases below 2.5 per cent every year, may go in the June budget.

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Education Minister Sarah Mitchell urged the union to cancel the strike on Tuesday, directing her department to delay wage negotiations for a new award until after the budget is handed down in June 21.

She said delaying wage arbitration showed the government was working in good faith.

Ms Sullivan said the problem needed to be solved right now.

"We can't wait. They've had six months," she said.

Asked if he backed the strike action, Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson said he was "confident that these issues will be resolved as part of ongoing discussions between the Teachers' Federation and government".

NSW Teachers' Federation President Angelo Gavrielatos said premier Perrottet had failed students, their parents, and the teaching profession.

"The time for spin and gimmickry has long past," he said.

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