The head of the state\u2019s powerful education union has threatened more teacher strikes, saying educators will again walk off the job if they don\u2019t get a better pay-and-conditions deal from the Allan government.<\/p>\n
The new threat came as tens of thousands of Victorian state school educators walked out of classrooms and on to the streets of Melbourne CBD on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It was their second 24-hour strike over pay and conditions since March, causing a new round of logistical pressure for parents despite major parents groups saying they supported the reasons behind the action.<\/p>\n
Addressing the crowd, Australian Education Union Victorian president Justin Mullaly said Premier Jacinta Allan and Education Minister Ben Carroll were taking teachers\u2019 goodwill for granted and did not have teachers\u2019 backs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo here we are in our tens of thousands, and more, and we\u2019re standing together. We are standing united. We are union-proud, and we are union-powerful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we\u2019re ready to send a loud, loud message to this state government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Mullaly promised more industrial action if the government did not deliver a better offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be back here on Spring Street,\u201d he said standing outside Parliament of Victoria.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will escalate our campaign, if we need to. We will stop work again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to keep the pressure on this government, to get the outcome that we need to see, that Victoria needs to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria Police said about 20,000 people attended Thursday\u2019s protest, well short of the 30,000 figure put forward by the AEU, and the 35,000 who attended the March strike, according to police.<\/p>\n
The smaller protest could reflect the narrowing of the latest vote in which a slim majority of 51.18 per cent were against the deal, along with the ongoing toll of the year-long negotiations.<\/p>\n
But an AEU spokeswoman said: \u201cWe respectfully disagree with the crowd estimate based on a comparison with the rally in March\u201d.<\/p>\n
The union also shot back at comments from Mr Carroll who has said his door is open for negotiations, with the AEU saying it had not heard from the government, and no meetings between negotiators were scheduled.<\/p>\n
The AEU will also publish an open letter to Victorian families in the Herald Sun on Friday highlighting the impact of more than a decade of underfunding of the state\u2019s schools on students and educators.<\/p>\n
Mr Mullaly said it was important families understood why teachers were taking industrial action including strikes.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, Victoria\u2019s public schools are the lowest funded in the country,\u201d Mr Mullaly says in the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut instead of getting our schools on a pathway to full funding like they promised the Premier and her cabinet have deliberately cut $2.4 billion from public schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teachers walk from Bourke St Mall to parliament<\/p>\n
As their year-long bitter dispute with the state government intensifies, including knocking back three offers, vocal teachers, principals, and education support staff wearing red left the Bourke Street Mall about 10.45am and headed to Parliament House.<\/p>\n
The crowd walked yelling chants including \u201cwhat do we want? A fair deal? When do we want it? Now!\u201d<\/p>\n
Kat, 35, said her poor teaching conditions were students\u2019 learning conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government hasn\u2019t listened to what we\u2019ve been asking for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want less face-to-face, we want smaller class sizes, we want an agreement that\u2019s paid over three years and not dragged out over five. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not all about the money, but our teaching conditions are students\u2019 learning conditions and right now, that agreement isn\u2019t covering that, and it\u2019s not a good offer.\u201d <\/p>\n
Others sung \u201cBen Carroll, goodbye!\u201d and \u201cexcessive workloads have to go\u201d.<\/p>\n
Katherine, 43, said she was spending more time with other children than her own. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been teaching for over 15 years and in all honesty, these work conditions are getting worse,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe workload\u2019s getting too much. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re losing our weekends, we have children, and we\u2019re spending more time with other people\u2019s children and looking and catering for their needs rather than our own kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prep student Matilda, 6, whose mum Jess Robinson is a secondary teacher and grandmother, Pam, is a principal, attended the strike holding a sign saying, \u2018I love my teachers\u2019, complete with a picture of a teacher holding a dollar coin.<\/p>\n
Ms Robinson, who went on strike despite supporting the latest pay deal because she wants improvements to workplace conditions, said she was proud of her daughter\u2019s support for educators, especially her prep teacher, Miranda, who Matilda said worked \u201creally hard\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got lots of teachers around. She\u2019s definitely heard a lot about it,\u201d Ms Robinson said.<\/p>\n
Carroll: Disruption is \u2018disappointing\u2019<\/p>\n
In a statement released Thursday morning, Mr Carroll said he was disappointed by the disruptions caused to families.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies are already juggling a lot, and today\u2019s disruption is disappointing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis deal would have made Victorian teachers and education support staff the best paid in the country together with the best conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a close vote and we will continue to work with the AEU to resolve this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Socialists in Schools: \u2018This is the time to draw a line\u2019<\/p>\n
Among the crowds of educators are members of Fight the Crisis and Socialists in Schools \u2014 two unionised campaign groups that have mounted successful \u2018vote no\u2019 campaigns and are pushing for another strike on August 4 unless an agreement is reached.<\/p>\n
Speaking from the march, Socialists in Schools spokeswoman and teacher Liz Walsh said more than 80 staff members had walked off the job at Keilor Downs Secondary College \u2014 the largest ever to strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the narrative, the fight isn\u2019t wavering. This is the time to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough. We are going to use our industrial power to fight for our schools and our students. Labor have failed our public schools,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Fight the Crisis spokeswoman Lucy Honan said the city was \u201ccrawling with red T-shirts\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t about greed. It\u2019s about fighting for the schools our students deserve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday feels like hope, it feels like we have a bit of space to dream. We want to do our jobs to the best of our ability.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while an estimated tens of thousands took to the streets, other educators posting in online teacher chat sites have said they could not afford to lose pay by striking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a single parent barely getting by with a mortgage, bills and living expenses… Plain and simply, I cannot afford to strike because if I do. we will not have any food for the next fortnight. I live pay to pay,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n
The strike finished around 11:45am, with crowds dispersing across the CBD.<\/p>\n
Public-school classrooms across the state were emptied on Thursday as entire year levels of students stayed at home and schools battled to run reduced lessons or provide only supervision for a limited number of students.<\/p>\n
Parents Victoria chief executive Gail McHardy said after many months of negotiations, parents were tired of uncertainty and wanted the AEU and the government to reach an agreement that provided long-term stability for students, parents, and school staff.<\/p>\n
But Ms McHardy said many families understood why educators were striking and backed their calls for the government to deliver on their commitment to fully fund Victorian schools to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery child deserves to attend a school that is properly resourced, and every teacher deserves to work in a system that can support them to work to their full potential,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Rowswell: \u2018Yet another Ben Carroll and Labor failure\u2019<\/p>\n
Victorian opposition education spokesman Brad Rowswell said the strike was the result of \u201cyet another Ben Carroll and Labor failure\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wannabe Premier has now overseen a $2.4 billion cut from school funding, an ongoing teacher shortage crisis and two consecutive years of VCE exam debacles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The strike follows a year of failed negotiations between the AEU and the state government with three offers, including pay rises of at least 28.3 per cent and a reduction in meeting time from 80 to 40 hours, knocked back by educators since March.<\/p>\n
The latest offer was rejected by a slim majority of 51.18 per cent.<\/p>\n
The push for a new Victorian Government Schools Agreement has been marred by union infighting and verbal stoushes between Mr Mullaly and Mr Carroll including claims of \u201canti-union\u201d behaviour by Mr Carroll in reaching out directly to teachers in a desperate bid to get the deal done.<\/p>\n
Teachers want a 35 per cent pay increase over three \u2014 not four \u2014 years to help retain and attract educators, reduced class sizes, less administration requirements, and for the state to commit, as all other states and territories already have, to full funding under the SRS \u2014 a delay which has effectively stripped $2.4 billion of funding out of Victoria\u2019s state schools.<\/p>\n
A Monash University study shows teachers do about 12 hours of unpaid overtime each week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of the state\u2019s powerful education union has threatened more teacher strikes, saying educators will again 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