MPs banned from schools as union dispute escalates

The teacher’s union has banned politicians from visiting public schools as they fight for a larger pay rise.

Public school staff will ban Victorian state Labor MPs from visiting campuses as part of three additional industrial bans by teachers and principals commencing on Tuesday.

The ongoing industrial action includes new bans on NAPLAN Online School Readiness Testing and education support staff undertaking duties during their unpaid lunch break.

The Australian Education Union announced on Tuesday that the actions were designed to directly impact the state government and the Department of Education and Training, and highlight the excessive workloads and hours of unpaid work being done by public school teachers, principals and education support staff.

“The Andrews Labor government has failed to properly address our concerns about excessive workloads and salaries that reflect the important work of school staff”, AEU Victorian Branch president Meredith Peace said.

Education Minister James Merlino and Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio at Rosanna Golf Links Primary School, Rosanna. Picture: Paul Jeffers

In relation to banning state Labor MPs from visiting school campuses, Ms Peace said there was a significant amount of work involved for teachers, principals, and education support staff to prepare for these visits, which is often disregarded by the department and politicians.

“These visits disrupt scheduled student learning, and create workload for principals and other staff, whilst politicians get free media they can use to promote themselves in their electorate.

“If the ban is not heeded and state Labor MPs visit schools, our members will have no choice but to take local stopwork action and protest,” she said.

These new bans will add to the existing bans on one hour of meetings per week, responding to DET emails, and implementing the updated Framework for Improving Student Outcomes.

Victorian public teachers work an additional 15 unpaid hours per week on average, while principals regularly work 60-hour weeks on average.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews visits Wheelers Hill Secondary College.

Ms Peace said the Union’s message to Premier Daniel Andrews and Education Minister James Merlino is loud and clear – “they must invest in additional teachers and support staff, address excessive workloads of school staff, and deliver salaries that respect the important work they do.”

“Until our concerns are addressed by the Andrews Labor government, union members will continue to undertake industrial action,” she said.

Among the sticking points in the negotiations between the Department of Education and 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.

Mr Merlino said: “We’ll continue to negotiate in good faith with our hardworking teachers and school staff”.

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”.