School’s out: Geelong teachers to walk off job again

Geelong public school teachers will again walk off the job in May.

The escalation in action follows months of unsuccessful bargaining between the Australian Education Union (AEU) and the state government over teacher pay and working conditions.

Members first took strike action for a full day on 24 March and are now planning a further half-day stoppage later this month.

Teachers, principals and education support staff from across Geelong and Colac are expected to gather on the morning of Tuesday 27 May at the office of Christine Couzens as part of the action.

The strikes are being rolled out region by region across Victoria, with educators assembling at the offices of local Labor MPs.

Alongside the stoppages, public school staff have introduced a series of workplace bans including withholding written comments in student reports, declining to implement new government initiatives, limiting meeting attendance and not responding to some Department of Education emails. A ban also remains in place on visits to schools by Labor members of the Victorian parliament.

AEU Victorian branch president Justin Mullaly said teachers were being taken for granted and urged the state government to address chronic staffing shortages.

“Victoria’s public school staff are overworked and undervalued, with the average school employee doing 12 hours of unpaid overtime a week and experienced teachers set to earn over $15,000 less than their NSW counterparts by October,” he said.

“It is a similar story for many education support staff and school leaders.”