More than 35,000 Victorian teachers set to walk off the job
More than 35,000 teachers will be laid off in Victoria on Thursday.
The massive 24-hour work stoppage came after a narrow majority of Victorian Australian Education Union members rejected the state government’s proposal for a 28.3 per cent pay increase over the next four years.
Tens of thousands of teachers, education support staff and principals are expected to gather at Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall and march to parliament from 10.30am on Thursday morning.
All of the state’s public schools will remain open Thursday, but every school has had to weather the outage. Some schools are canceling all classes for certain year groups.
The union cites graduate teacher salaries as a key indicator that Victorian educators are underpaid; graduates earn $13,000 less than in the highest-paying region, the Northern Territory.
Victorian union branch president Justin Mullaly said public school funding was a “mess” and pay and condition offers were disrespectful.
“AEU members have been telling the Victorian Labor government for years that underfunding of Victoria’s state schools has made their work untenable,” he said, announcing on Tuesday that members had rejected the salary offer.
“When only three in 10 state school teachers in Victoria plan to continue working in state schools, there is clearly a problem.
“If this is truly the case with education, why are teachers, school administrators, and educational support staff working an average of 12 hours of unpaid overtime each week?”
After nearly 12 months of wrangling, 51.18 percent of union members rejected the four-year salary offer of 28.3 percent.
The proposal also included shortening meeting times. The union says a 35 percent wage increase within three years is necessary for educators to avoid inflation.
The union was also angry at the government’s proposals for class caps, increased support for children with complex needs and full funding for state schools under the School Resources Standard.
The standard is a national initiative and with Victoria being the only state yet to sign up, there is a $2.4 billion funding gap.
Responding to union members’ rejection on Tuesday, state Education Minister and Deputy Premier Ben Carroll said the offer would “give Victorian teachers and education support staff the best conditions with the best pay in the country”.
“I call on the AEU leadership to cancel the strike planned for July 23
because students should be in classrooms and parents should not be left to scramble for child care or lose their daily wages,” Mr. Carroll said.
“We will always support our hard-working teachers, school leaders and education support staff. This was a close vote and my door is always open – I once again call on AEU leadership to call off this strike.”
Swinburne University education expert Melinda Davis said the strike was due to teacher shortages, increased workloads and a lack of support as well as pay for children with complex needs.
“Our teachers are not just striking over conditions, they are striking over the quality of Victorian public school education,” he said.
“Working conditions define the learning environment for every student in Victoria. The inadequate working conditions of our teachers have become the inadequate learning conditions of our children.
“Large classrooms, teachers on leave from stress, schools without trained learning support staff: if we are truly the ‘education state,’ how can the government suggest that this is the environment in which our children can learn best?”
More to come
