State school teachers demand 35 per cent pay rise, smaller classes, reduced workload

The state’s 52,000 government school teachers have demanded pay rises totalling 35 per cent over three years, reduced workloads, smaller classes and more mental health support.

In its log of claims for a new enterprise agreement covering 1570 schools across the state, the Australian Education Union wants a 15 per cent pay boost in the first year of a new deal followed by 10 per cent in each of the second and third years. The increases would be based on the initial salary figure, and not compounded each year.

Australian Education Union president Justin Mullaly addresses teacher protesting outside the office of Education Minister Ben Carroll in Niddrie last month.Credit: Eddie Jim

In addition to the large wage rise, the teachers want smaller class sizes, more allied health and classroom support for students, more flexible working options, workload reductions and lower administrative burdens.

Rank-and-file teachers and principals are in a mutinous mood after years of underfunding to government schools, a workforce crisis and a pay deal three years ago that delivered annual pay rises of 2 per cent, just as the cost-of-living crisis began to bite.

They remain the nation’s lowest-paid state education workforce with Victorian graduate teachers earning $13,000 less than the best-paid graduates in the Northern Territory and $8700 less than those in NSW.

A group of unionists running on a “strike now” ticket pulled in 37 per cent of the vote in internal elections late last year, and the union’s state branch president Justin Mullaly told The Age in April that strike action was not off the table as part of teachers’ campaign for better pay.

Several hundred unionised teachers rallied at the electorate office of Education Minister Ben Carroll in Melbourne’s north-west last month to voice their determination to fight for more money and better conditions.

But the state’s capacity to pay may be in doubt, with Treasury grappling with debts set to hit $167 billion this year and the government looking to cut 1200 jobs in a bid to save $3 billion. The government also secretly stripped $2.4 billion from future school spending by delaying by some years, money due to be spent under the long-promised Gonski reforms.

The Education Department’s own wage bill is estimated to be nearly $260 million over its budgeted figure of $10.08 billion this financial year, while teachers, parents, principals and education experts clamour for more money for the state’s schools.

Restive public sector workforces have been politically problematic for Jacinta Allan’s Labor government, which settled a bitter industrial dispute with its police force in February. After a vote of no-confidence from officers, then-chief commissioner Shane Patton left the top job.

Teacher union members have also taken note of the last round of bargaining for the state’s nurses, who dramatically rejected a deal brokered between their union’s leadership and the state government last year, eventually winning a 28 per cent pay rise over four years.

Mullaly said on Monday that his union’s membership was up for an industrial fight, citing a recent surge in teachers signing up with the union and an unprecedented volume of submissions to the process of developing the log of claims.

“AEU members are highly engaged, ready to campaign for themselves and for the students they work with,” Mullaly said.

The union leader said the pay disparity with NSW teachers was a factor driving unhappiness among Victorian teachers.

“Victoria’s public schools are the lowest-funded in the country, and our teachers are the lowest-paid, with education support staff and school leaders also undervalued,” he said.

“Next year an experienced teacher working in Wodonga would be $15,359 better off a year, or $295 a week, by crossing the Murray and teaching in a public school in Albury.

“In 2026, an experienced Victorian teacher will be paid $118,063 compared to $133,422 for an experienced teacher in NSW.”

The union leader called on the government to “get serious” about addressing the many problems in the state’s schools.

“That means decent pay and conditions to attract and retain our public school teachers, principals and education support staff, increased classroom supports and smaller class sizes,” Mullaly said.

A Department of Education spokesperson said it looked forward to the pay talks.

“Our teachers and school staff play a vital role enriching the lives of young Victorians and instilling a lifelong love of learning,” they said.

“We value the important work of our teachers, education support staff and principals and look forward to commencing negotiations for a replacement agreement once a log of claims is received.”

The teachers’ move came after another group of Victorian government workers, the state’s MPs, were awarded a 3 per cent pay increase by the Independent Remuneration Tribunal on Friday.

The tribunal’s decision takes the basic salary of an MP in state parliament to $211,972. Ministers, shadow ministers, parliamentary secretaries, the premier and other MPs performing higher roles receive more.

Premier Jacinta Allan’s basic MP’s wage is topped-up with $256,525 a year, taking her total earnings to $468,497.

Opposition Leader Brad Battin and all government ministers, other than the deputy premier, will earn a total of $390,143.

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