Teachers to escalate industrial action in term 2

The Australian Education Union (AEU) will take further action after last month’s strike.

Victorian teachers walked off the job on 24 March after eight months of failed negotiations with the state government.

Having still not reached an agreement, the union has confirmed further action will begin at the start of term 2 on 20 April.

“Things are not progressing sufficiently,” AEU Victorian branch president Justin Mullaly said in a video posted to social media on Friday.

“It’s the case that we’ve got to turn up the heat.”

The action will include rolling half-day stoppages and work bans, including writing reports for parents, implementing new department initiatives and replying to department emails.

The stoppages will target regions with Labor MPs, with AEU members from schools in the same geographical areas stopping work once for half a day.

Teachers will not attend school the morning of their stoppage, instead gathering at the offices of local state Labor MPs before returning to work in the region.

AEU has indicated the stoppages will be rolled out over several weeks to maximise impact and provide sustained pressure on the government.

Work bans will also come into effect from 6am on Monday 20 April.

“We’re going to put a ban on written comments and reports,” Mullaly said. “We’re going to put a ban on attending one hour of meetings with additional bans in place for principals and their meetings. There’ll be a ban on responding to departmental email and if the department or the government want to roll out any new initiatives, well they’re banned as well.”

Details on when Geelong schools will be impacted will be released in coming weeks.