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Teachers at Victoria’s 1600 government schools say they will walk off the job for one day next month if the state Labor government fails to make a “reasonable” pay offer.
The Australian Education Union (AEU) says the strike, the first generalised shutdown of the state school system since 2013, will go ahead on March 24 if the government continues to “disrespect” its education workforce.
Talks on pay and conditions for the state’s 52,000 government school teachers have continued since last year, with the union growing increasingly vocal about the lack of progress in the negotiations and mounting evidence of the underfunding of public schools.
A ballot of the schools workforce, which has been in a militant mood for several years, is underway, and majority support for protected industrial action would pave the way for the threatened shutdown.
The union’s Victorian branch president, Justin Mullaly, confident that the ballot process will produce a pro-strike majority, said the industrial action would go ahead if the government failed to come up with a reasonable pay offer before March 24.
“We have been negotiating in good faith with the Allan Labor government to deliver the salaries and conditions that school staff need,” Mullaly said.
“Their failure to come to the table with an offer is downright disrespectful.”
The office of Education Minister Ben Carroll has been contacted for comment.
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Jackson Graham is an education reporter at The Age. He was previously an explainer reporter.Connect via email.From our partners
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