Teachers could walk off the job over pay deal

Public school teachers say they may walk off the job if their demands for better pay and reduced workloads aren’t met.

Frustrated parents fear children will face more disruptions if teachers walk off the job if their demands for better pay and reduced workloads aren’t met.

It comes as the Australian Education Union will start the first phase of their industrial action from Monday with a partial ban on answering Department of Education emails and attending meetings.

AEU Victorian Branch president Meredith Peace said strike action “could occur” this year.

“We haven’t made those decisions as yet and that we will be very dependent on how the government responds,” Ms Peace said.

“But we’ll address the context we’re in.

“We will consider further bans. The ballot that we did with our members gives us the capacity to take industrial action in the forms of limitations and bans on work, as well as stop work.”

Sarah Malone, whose seven-year-old daughter attends a school in Melbourne’s inner east, said she hoped teachers wouldn’t strike.

“The fact that kids have been so disrupted for two years, it would be such a pity for teachers to strike in term 4,” she said.

AEU Victoria president Meredith Peace.

“Socialisation and children’s mental health should be the main focus for term 4. I appreciate teachers being paid well and all that they’ve done.

“The best outcome would be for them to try and negotiate without striking.”

Last week, the Herald Sun revealed that 97 per cent of surveyed members backed the action amid negotiations over a new enterprise agreement.

Among the sticking points in the negotiations between the Department of Education and the union, which have continued for almost a year, is a push for a 7 per cent pay rise for each of the next three years and a 6.5 per cent increase to their superannuation.

Parents Victoria executive officer Gail McHardy said: “There are no winners when negotiations break down between parties and this should have been settled earlier, the timing is completely off.”

“Parents Victoria (PV) have expressed previously our support for public school teachers to be paid in accordance with their national peers especially if you want to attract people to the profession,” she said.

“PV understands Victorian school communities are frustrated and fatigued by the Covid disruptions and it’s essential to maintain healthy relationships between families and schools while the workforce sort their employment grievances with their employer.”

Opposition Education spokesman David Hodgett said: “Students and teachers are under enormous stress at the moment, it is vital that the government resolves these claims as soon as possible before it escalates further.”

A Department of Education spokesman said: “We’ll continue to negotiate in good faith to reach an agreement for our hardworking school staff”.

Victorian government school teachers have not walked off the job since a series of statewide strikes in 2013.

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Originally published as Teachers could walk off the job over pay deal