Victorian teachers have suffered a real pay cut of 11 percent since 2021. On Monday, Jacinta Allan’s Labor government offered a new contract that doesn’t make up for this pay cut and worsens our already intolerable working conditions. The leaders of the Australian Education Union rightly rejected the disgraceful offer, put forward shortly after 77 percent of eligible union members voted to strike on 24 March.
The government’s offer is for a nominal wage increase of 17 percent—8 percent in the first year, followed by 3 percent in each subsequent year of the four-year agreement. This is far from a “generous” offer, despite the media hype. The AEU leaders forced through the previous agreement, which contained a 2 percent annual pay rise (despite a “No” vote of nearly 40 percent), just as inflation took off. Now, inflation has increased again (to 3.8 percent a year) and is expected to climb further as recent oil price rises are passed through the economy.
So real wages are again under pressure. We need our full claim of 15 percent in the first year just to get back to the starting line. Graduate teachers are already $8,489 poorer each year under the current agreement than they would have been if our wages had risen in line with inflation. For experienced teachers, that figure rises to $13,964 every year. This is equivalent to losing a month’s pay every year.
Disgracefully, the government’s pay offer to education support staff is even lower than for teachers: just 4 percent in the first year, then 3 percent increases over the following years. Education support workers, who already receive lower wages, are essential to educational equity. As well as handling all the essential maintenance and admin tasks at a school, ES staff are vital in classrooms to ensure students with varied needs and abilities can meaningfully participate in school. Refusing to recognise ES work sends a clear message about what the Labor government values: saving dollars at the expense of some of the most vulnerable students and most under-resourced school staff.
We are demanding a 35 percent pay increase for all school staff over three years (15 percent in the first year, followed by 10 percent over each of the next two years). This is essential for school staff to get ahead of inflation, rather than continuing to fall behind it. The Allan government’s offer of 17 percent for teachers and 13 percent for education support staff barely brings us to the 2022 starting line, let alone accounting for the inflation expected over the next four years. Did the Labor government really think we would accept another agreement that leaves us unable to afford skyrocketing rents, and increasing mortgage repayments and basic living expenses, compelling more and more workers to abandon public schools?
The real kicker, however, is not its pathetic salary offer; it’s the attempt to undermine our working conditions. In a flagrant disregard for the insurmountable workload teachers already experience, the government proposed abolishing the cap on face-to-face teaching hours for educators. In its place, teachers would be subject to a department-controlled workload index, with even less recourse to enforce limits on our workloads.
Adding insult to injury, the Allan government also proposed mandating up to three hours of meetings per week for teachers (up from two hours) and removing caps on after-hours events that teachers are asked to attend, with time-in-lieu arrangements replaced by an overtime allowance.
Finally, the offer shirks any mention of funding. At the moment, school councils are so strapped for cash that they can’t even fund what are meant to be their legal minimum obligations. For instance, there is often no money for when teachers are sick, meaning classes can be much larger than the limits set in the enterprise agreement.
School staff deserve much more than this offer. Perhaps the government strategy is to scare us with threats and then to back off—to lull us into accepting an unacceptable status quo, and a wage result that leaves us worse off compared to where we were at the start of the decade.
We shouldn’t fall for this. We should be prepared to vote down any offer that fails to meet crucial claims on wages (both on the percentage increase and paid lunch breaks for ES staff), workload (smaller class sizes and an ES in every classroom) and funding. Paying teachers and school staff properly cannot and should not come at the expense of our conditions. Improving both is crucial if public schools are to retain teachers and ensure that all students have the right to an education.
Private schools literally build castles with public money on their well-manicured grounds. Labor can find money for jails, but not for the schools that would give every student the start they need. The richest 200 people in this country more than tripled their wealth (to $668 billion) in the ten years to 2025. All of this tells us that the money is there—but it will take serious industrial action, including multi-day strikes, to force the government to fund schools.
So it’s crucial that we start our industrial campaign with a bang—with a massive strike next Tuesday, 24 March. If you’re a teacher, be at Trades Hall at 10:30am. Socialists in Schools will be meeting at the eight-hour monument across the road. If you’re a parent, don’t let your kids get an education in strike-breaking at a mainly empty school. Instead, take the day off and bring your kids, your workmates, and your friends to Trades Hall, and march with us to parliament.
