Rolling strikes loom as teachers continue battle for better pay

Thousands of government school teachers across Melbourne’s north-west are set to push ahead with rolling half-day strike next week, as negotiations with the state government over wages and working conditions drag on.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) said on Wednesday it had not received the government’s revised offer of a 28 per cent pay rise over four years, which was leaked on Tuesday.

After little progress on other key areas, including reductions to workloads or classroom teaching time, the union said it remained committed to starting its rolling statewide half-day strikes next week.

Government primary and high schools in Melbourne’s north-west will be the first to be affected. Teachers from Sunbury to Coburg are set to walk off the job on Wednesday before converging at Education Minister Ben Carroll’s electorate office in Niddrie.

Adding to confusion for parents, the AEU has not publicly stated which schools fall into its Broadmeadows, Maribyrnong and Sunbury regions – which are distinct from the department’s official school zones – and which schools will be affected by Wednesday’s strike action.

The union has not yet advised when parents can expect to be notified if their child’s school is affected.

The rolling strikes aim to maintain the momentum generated from the March strike, when 35,000 government teachers, principals and education support workers walked off the job, marking the first mass teachers’ strike in Victoria in 13 years.

Following Wednesday’s half-day strike, teachers would then target the offices of other Labor MPs and ministers around the state as they take half-day actions over subsequent weeks, the AEU said.

Educators from the regional towns of Bendigo, Castlemaine, Kyneton and Maryborough are preparing to descend on Premier Jacinta Allan’s Bendigo East electorate office the following week, on May 13.

Since school returned for term 2 on April 20, teachers have refused to attend meetings, or respond to emails from the Department of Education, and will impose a ban on writing comments on semester report cards to parents as part of the industrial action.

In a message to be sent to parents via school newsletters, the union acknowledged that the half-day strikes would be disruptive.

“Each school will be affected once,” the message states.

“We understand this can cause disruption for students and families. Staff are taking this action because they care deeply about public education and want to see our schools properly funded, and to receive fair pay and conditions, all of which are critical to a prosperous future for Victoria’s public school students.”

Carroll said on Wednesday that “intense” talks between the union and the government were ongoing.

“I don’t want any further industrial action,” the minister told radio 3AW.

“The most important place for our students is in the classroom, and I want to ensure that our teachers know that we fully understand that they need a proper pay rise.”

The government did not answer questions from this masthead about which schools had been notified of strike action.

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