At 1.44pm on 21 July, the news broke: Australian Education Union (AEU) members had once again voted to reject a substandard offer put to us by the state Labor government and our union leaders. It was a brilliant moment, even if at the time I was in class and not with my colleagues. Students eating their lunch wondered why I suddenly looked so thrilled. “The strike’s on!” I shouted, and they erupted into chanting, “Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!”
While we could all agree that another day off school was something to be excited about, the significance of the win goes far deeper. This was the second time that AEU members have been asked to vote on an offer that failed to address our key demands, and the second time members said, “No, thanks, let’s keep fighting”.
The strike later that week was an incredible display of resistance and solidarity, tens of thousands walking off the job for the second time this year. Given the AEU has called only one strike in the last thirteen years, it represented a significant achievement. The strong vote in favour of rejecting the second agreement and fighting for more was not only a win against the industrial action-averse union leadership, but also against the Labor government, which has continually undervalued our work and underestimated our resolve. The strong attendance at the rally was a testament to the commitment of teachers to win a better deal than last time.
The second no vote wasn’t a given, as there were some improvements on the previous offer. One of the most significant was a halving of time teachers can be required to spend in meetings, from 80 to 40 hours per year—an important win for teachers’ dignity and sanity.
The other key improvement was the shifting of the “allowances” for education support staff into their base salary. This means that we have now won an equal percentage pay rise for education support staff and teachers. This is significant, as allowances can be scrapped, but it is much harder to undo a pay rise. This gain acknowledges the crucial work of education support staff, and means we are better placed to fight for more together in future campaigns. It also reflects the wonderful unity and solidarity within the union. The government and union leaders thought they could get away with ripping off one section of the workforce, but teachers and support staff stood together and refused to be divided against each other.
These gains prove that the arguments our union leaders used to browbeat us into accepting the last offer were simply nonsense. They told us that we had to vote yes to the first deal because it was the best that we could get. They said the next offer could be worse if we voted no. If we rejected the first offer, they told us, it would be “ripped up” and the whole negotiation process would have to restart and then drag out for months. All now shown to be lies and fearmongering by people who want school staff and students to suck up sub-par conditions so they can claim victory and get a pat on the back from the government. And perhaps preselection for the ALP one day.
But despite the gains, there were still major problems with the offer. Some of the key ones were that the pay increase was still well below 35 percent over three years, the government had not agreed to fund fully the agreement so it could actually be implemented and, crucially, it did nothing to address workloads—class sizes, face-to-face teaching time, planning time. This would lock in the current crisis-level conditions being experienced by teachers and students in public schools for another four years.
This is why it was so important that the activist group Socialists in Schools threw ourselves into campaigning for a no vote. It was a challenge, not least because the window for voting was very narrow—voting links were sent out Friday night with a deadline of Tuesday afternoon. This allowed little time for teachers collectively to discuss the proposal, or even read it and understand the changes.
Nevertheless, Socialists in Schools immediately leapt into action. Members combed through the offer and identified errors and issues, produced social media content, engaged in online discussions, answered common misconceptions and questions, wrote email newsletters, contacted colleagues, shared “vote no” explainers everywhere, and organised urgent sub-branch meetings for Monday where possible. It was a marvel to be part of such a cohered and determined group of socialists in their element.
In the end, the second offer was voted down by a narrow margin of 48 percent to 51 percent. Participation in the vote was high, reflecting the widespread engagement by school staff in this campaign. In this context, a vote against a second, improved offer, even by a small margin, is extremely significant.
The rejection, importantly, meant the union’s planned strike for 23 July would go ahead. The task then was to bring everyone together to make it as successful as possible. Because there was so little time to prepare and the membership was quite divided on the offer, there were worries and murmurs that the strike would be smaller than the first or not as well observed.
On the other hand, at my school, like many others, more people had joined the union since the last action so the potential for disruption was greater. More importantly though, is that the general willingness of members to stand together as a union clearly held strong.
On Thursday, the streets of Melbourne were overcome with impassioned educators in a sea of red, as were a number of regional centres. The wonderful tradition of each sub-branch [school] bringing their own banner gave an idea of the breadth of support. It was heartening to find schools nearby to your own, and possibly more so the banners from schools and places you hadn’t heard of. As usual, homemade placards and signs were on point, and chanting was loud and energetic.
For the first time, Socialists in Schools marched together as a bloc, drawing in members and sub-branches that have taken part in or supported our no campaign. It was an energetic, defiant and loud march. “Dedication doesn’t pay the rent”, we chanted. “Strike, strike for 35 percent.”
Socialists in Schools has been pushing for strikes not simply because school staff are entitled to better pay and conditions but because stopping work and shutting schools is the key way we can pressure the government actually to do something about the crisis in public education. If we stay passive and accept whatever the government offers us, the state of our schools can continue to be ignored. Strike action makes it no longer the staff and students’ problem, but society and the government’s.
The other reason we argue for strikes is that they are empowering, inspiring events. They give workers a taste of their own power and greater confidence in their cause. Standing in the middle of this rally, watching the beaming faces around you fill the streets with our numbers and the air with our voices, it is impossible to feel anything other than joyful and empowered. We are not greedy, inconsiderate or lazy as politicians, the media and pundits like to suggest. We are fighting for something important: our quality of life, that of our students and that of public education in general.
Brendan Laws, a high school teacher member of Socialists in Schools and Victorian Socialists’ candidate against Education Minister Ben Carroll, summed it up, telling Red Flag, “Our actions can disrupt the status quo; we are more powerful than we think”. This lesson cannot be learned from books alone; workers need to live it and feel it. This is why it mattered that Socialists in Schools activists did all they could to help defeat the second offer.
The next day in the staffroom, swapping stories about our strike day, my colleague commented, “I really needed that”. They were speaking for tens of thousands of teachers as well as the millions of other workers watching.
Socialists in Schools will continue to agitate for more strikes, and a better agreement that meets our demands. This campaign has surprised us many times, and the hope and determination of AEU members have been awe-inspiring. Whatever happens next, there is so much to be proud of. It was summed up perfectly by a member of Socialists in Schools well before the results were announced and we experienced our second historic strike and the jubilant determination on the streets: “The era of doing what we’re told is over. Regardless of the vote, resistance is the winner”.
