Teachers to walk off job for 24 hours amid pay dispute
Hundreds of public schools will be affected by the latest teachers’ strikes as a bitter pay dispute continues.
Public school staff across Victoria will walk off the job on Thursday following a vote by the Australian Education Union state branch on Tuesday.
Teachers will put down tools and refuse to work unpaid overtime unless an eleventh-hour deal is struck with the state government.
It comes after the powerful teachers’ union rejected a Labor government offer of 28 per cent pay rises over four years in June.
Branch president Justin Mullaly said teachers faced with untenable workloads and uncompetitive wages were left with no choice.
“In this underfunded system, teachers, principals and educational support staff work an average of 12 hours of unpaid overtime each week,” he said.
“The government must stop relying on the good will of school staff as a key part of its funding model for schools.”
The government has called on the union to return to negotiations to avoid disruption to families across the state.
“This deal, approved by AEU leadership, would provide Victorian teachers with the best pay and best conditions in the country,” a government spokesman said.
“We will always stand behind our hard-working teachers, school administrators and education support staff.”
Teachers had previously walked off the job in March, when staff took to the streets of Melbourne in their tens of thousands wearing AEU red.
During the strikes, some 35,000 people marched to the front steps of the state legislature; This is the first of its kind in over 13 years.
Other forms of industrial action remain in place, including banning Labor MPs from visiting state schools and responding to education department emails.
Mr. Mullaly said working conditions have forced many educators to consider leaving the profession they love just to make ends meet.
“Only three in 10 employees expect to work in public schools until retirement and cite excessive workload as one of the reasons for leaving,” he said.
“There is already a chronic teacher shortage that the state government has not adequately addressed.”
The state chapter represents more than 60,000 public school teachers, principals and support staff.
In June, Education Minister Ben Carroll accused union leaders of cutting off communications with members after failing to toe the line with them after agreeing to the government’s in-principle agreement in June.
He warned the offer might not be so generous if a Liberal or One Nation government is elected in the state poll within five months.
Opposition education spokesman Brad Rowswell said the strike showed Mr Carroll had failed again and needed to do his job and reach a deal.
“Victorian families should not pay the price for Labour’s failure to manage the state’s finances or negotiate with the workforce that educates our children,” he said on Tuesday.
