The NSW Teachers Federation said 99 per cent of teachers who attended two-hour stopwork meetings around NSW yesterday voted against the Government's 11.8 per cent pay offer over three years. This was to be funded by trade-offs in sick leave provisions and workers' compensation arrangements.

Federation president Bob Lipscombe said the NSW Auditor-General's estimates showed 16,000 teachers would reach retirement age by 2012, and 25,000 by 2016.

He said the State Government could use the savings of more than $150 million a year generated by replacing retiring teachers on higher rates of pay with teachers on lower rates, to give teachers a pay rise that kept pace with inflation without the need for trade-offs.

"This is not just about our incomes ... students are not going to have the quality of teachers in the future unless the State Government pays teachers better," Mr Lipscombe said.

As well as seeking better pay, teachers want to maintain a statewide transfer system. Recent changes to the system mean priority for appointments is no longer given to teachers with years of service in remote areas or in regions where it is difficult to attract staff.

NSW Teachers Federation regional organiser Nicole Calnan said a decision to hold a two-day strike at the start of the 2009 school year received unanimous support at the Wollongong stop-work meeting.

"This campaign shows teachers believe the education of all students in NSW is far too important to be placed at risk by a government who is not recognising the significant implications of losing half their workforce to retirement in the next decade."