In short:
Victorian public school teachers will hold a statewide 24-hour strike on 23 July after rejecting the Allan Labor Government’s latest pay offer and escalating industrial action. The dispute centres on pay, school funding and teacher workloads as negotiations over a new enterprise agreement continue.
Education Staff Ramp up Action
Victorian public school teachers will walk off the job again later this month after the Australian Education Union (AEU) voted to escalate its industrial campaign against the Allan Labor Government.
Union members have endorsed a statewide 24-hour stop work action on 23 July, alongside a ban on unpaid overtime as negotiations over a new enterprise agreement continue.
The latest action follows an earlier statewide strike on 24 March and comes after union members rejected the State Government’s proposed 28 per cent pay increase over four years, arguing it falls well short of their original claim for a 35 per cent increase.
Teachers and education support staff are already undertaking a series of work bans, including refusing to implement new government programs, limiting attendance at meetings, restricting responses to Department of Education emails and banning visits from state Labor MPs to public schools.
The union says the dispute extends beyond wages, arguing excessive workloads and chronic underfunding are driving staff from the profession.
Underpaid and Underappreciated Says Union
AEU Victorian Branch President Justin Mullaly said school employees were regularly working significant unpaid hours just to keep schools operating.
“The Allan Labor Government is purposefully denying at least $2.4 billion in funding for Victorian public schools.
“In this underfunded system, teachers, principals, and education support staff are working an average of 12 hours unpaid overtime every week. The government must stop relying on the goodwill of school employees as a core part of their funding model for schools.”
Mr Mullaly said staff were increasingly leaving the profession because of workload pressures, warning the shortage of teachers would continue unless conditions improved.
He said every student deserved access to a qualified teacher and appropriate wellbeing support, but argued this depended on the government properly funding schools and improving conditions to retain and attract staff.
The Allan Labor Government has previously defended its pay offer as fair and sustainable while negotiations with the union continue.
