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Thousands of Victorian students are facing a day of disrupted learning when up to 35,000 government school teachers walk off the job for a second time on Thursday, forcing the Labor government back to the negotiating table months before an election.
A sea of red is expected to shut down parts of the Melbourne CBD when Australian Education Union members march through the city, ignoring the government’s last-minute plea to call off statewide strikes.
Victorian president Justin Mullaly said members would march together to send a “loud and clear message to the premier and education minister that they can’t ignore”.
“Our message is this: you must fix your public school funding mess by fully funding our schools, and you must put a pay and conditions offer on the table that properly values and respects the work of AEU members,” he said.
What exactly that offer must include is murky; Mullaly has not named a revised number that would get a deal across the line since accepting an in-principle agreement from the government in May, which members rejected.
In an email to members last week, he identified a number of sticking points, which included better recognition of education support staff; improved pay recognition for employees at the top of their salary range; reduced class sizes; increased pay if inflation is more than annual pay; increased planning and preparation time; meeting reductions; and more work flexibility, including working from home when possible.
The government’s last-ditch offer last week to prevent the strike addressed many of those concerns, including a pay rise for education support staff of 28.3 per cent over four years, commensurate with that offered to teachers, and halving the number of meetings teachers had to attend.
But 51.18 per cent of the 50,000 union members who voted on the deal rejected it, resulting in a ban on working overtime and the 24-hour stop-work action on Thursday. The government’s insistence on a three-year deal, instead of the four-year deal the union was pushing for, remains a sticking point.
Most schools were expected to remain open during the strike, although many would only supervise a limited number of students. Several public high schools asked senior students to stay home to reduce the reliance on relief teachers.
The Allan government had expected to avoid the action by bringing the protracted negotiations to a close in May, after reaching an in-principle agreement that would have given teachers a pay rise of 28 per cent over four years and an increase in student-free days.
Union members shocked their leadership and the government by voting down the offer a month later, expressing frustration that it fell well short of their demand for 35 per cent over three years.
The surprise rejection, which drew ire from the Education Minister Ben Carroll, who accused the union’s leadership of being out of touch with its members, came after a fierce campaign by the union’s vocal left.
The left faction rallied members against the proposal, citing the discrepancy between support staff – who were offered a pay rise of 24 per cent – and teachers as a major hurdle. The government’s revised offer last week offered support staff the same pay rise as teachers, 28.3 per cent, but the left faction was still against it.
“No” camp spokesperson Lucy Honan, a veteran unionist who ran for branch president in 2024 and pulled in 37 per cent of the vote, has continued the rally against Labor’s recent proposal.
Her group, Fight the Crisis, will push for additional strikes in the next fortnight if their demands, which include class-size reductions and reduced teaching time, aren’t met.
Parents Victoria, the peak body representing parents and carers of students in government schools, said parents wanted certainty after the months-long negotiation process.
“School communities are understandably tired of the uncertainty and want both parties to reach an agreement that provides long-term stability for students, families and school staff,” they said in a statement.
“While the enterprise agreement is a matter for the negotiating parties, parents see this as part of a broader conversation about properly valuing public education.”
The strike and ban are in addition to industrial action that began in term 3, which includes a ban on state Labor MPs visiting public schools and a ban on implementing new government programs.
Will Nash, whose son is in grade 2 at Port Melbourne Primary School, said public school teachers had his full support for Thursday.
“I can understand there would be frustrations for some people because it changes the dynamic of their week,” he said.
“But for the sake of a day of school that might change the lives of the teachers, who are the people who are looking after our kids, I think it’s fine. It’s a drop in the ocean of a disturbance.”
Nash said he saw it as giving back to the people, teachers, who had given so much of their time and lives to so many.
“I’ve only got two kids, but imagine looking after 42 for a whole day,” he said. “They need more help and support, and I think we need to give that back to them.”
Union officials predict Thursday’s march will rival the strike in March, the union’s first in 13 years, which drew about 35,000 educators and supporters to the streets of Melbourne.
Trams will be disrupted through the city when the march gets under way in the Bourke Street Mall at 10.30am. Teachers will make their way to Parliament House.
Carroll called the outcome of Tuesday’s vote disappointing and urged the union leadership to call it off.
“This deal would have made Victorian teachers and education support staff the best paid in the country together with the best conditions,” he said.
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