Members of the Australian Education Union Victorian Branch have voted to take stopwork action later this month, with teachers, principals and education support staff set to stop work for 24 hours on 24 March.
According to the union, 98 per cent of participating members supported the action during a ballot held amid ongoing negotiations with the Victorian Government over pay and working conditions.
President of the Australian Education Union Victorian Branch, Mr Justin Mullaly, said negotiations with the government had been underway for eight months.
“Public school teachers, principals, and support staff will stop work on 24 March, for the first time in 18 years under a Labor government because of the failure of the Education Minister Ben Carroll and Premier Jacinta Allan to deliver pay and conditions which respect school staff and the important work that they do, as well as fully fund public schools,” Mr Mullaly said.
He said the decision to take industrial action had not been made lightly.
“This decision has not been taken lightly, and we keenly understand the impact this can have on parents, but we have arrived here because the Allan Labor government is continuing to disrespect public school teachers, principals, and support staff by not putting any offer on the table, let alone a decent one,” Mr Mullaly said.
Mr Mullaly also raised concerns about public school funding in Victoria.
“The Victorian government has deliberately denied Victorian public schools $2.4 billion in funding through to 2031, cementing our schools as the lowest funded in Australia by a long way,” he said.
Following the union members’ vote, the Fair Work Commission authorised protected industrial action, which includes the planned 24-hour stopwork on 24 March.
Mr Mullaly said the union’s action was linked to concerns about pay, workload and school funding.
“It is a joke for this government to call Victoria the ‘education state’, when teachers, principals and support staff continue to be undervalued and underpaid,” he said.
