{"id":832730,"date":"2026-07-30T04:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/832730\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T04:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:53:18","slug":"schools-strike-victoria-principals-reject-plan-to-cut-teacher-hours-in-revised-pay-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/832730\/","title":{"rendered":"Schools strike Victoria: Principals reject plan to cut teacher hours in revised pay deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Principals have warned a pay deal that would cut teachers\u2019 meeting hours in half would backfire, as the state\u2019s new premier continues to urge educators against more strikes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australian Education Union members narrowly rejected the government\u2019s most recent offer<\/a> of a 28.3 per cent pay rise over the next four years, with an increase of 12.75 per cent by October this year.<\/p>\n

\"ThousandsThousands of teachers went on strike last week over an ongoing pay dispute with the state government.Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n

The latest deal would have also seen meeting hours halved from 80 to 40 hours a year, and government teachers at the top of the pay scale be given an annual lump-sum payment.<\/p>\n

However, the offer was narrowly rejected and led to 20,000 teachers, principals and educators from government schools taking to the streets in Melbourne to call for better conditions as part of any deal.<\/p>\n

The rejected cut to meeting hours frustrated principals, who sent a letter to Premier Ben Carroll<\/a>, who is still serving as the minister for education, over the issue this week.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Victorian<\/a><\/p>\n

In a separate letter to its members, the Australian Principals Federation said it was concerned about the consequences of the proposed meeting changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the intent to reduce teacher workload is acknowledged, we believe the implementation will have several unintended consequences for school leaders and school operations,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe APF supports genuine workload reduction for all school staff. However, workload solutions must not simply shift responsibility onto principals and assistant principals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federation president Andrew Cock pointed out the organisation was not consulted before the announcement of the plan to cut meeting hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was limited opportunity to provide feedback and regrettably, not even the courtesy of a phone call advising us that such a significant announcement was imminent,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n

Cock told The Age the unintended outcome of the proposal reduced the ability for schools to work collaboratively and for school leaders to support teaching staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of it could be shifted to be completed in teachers\u2019 other work hours, and some of it will be shifted to the responsibility of principals and assistant principals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The AEU\u2019s Victorian branch was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Carroll said on Thursday morning he had pulled \u201cevery lever\u201d when negotiating with the teachers\u2019 union, and believed a deal was within reach.<\/p>\n

\"PremierPremier Ben Carroll said the government is close to a deal with teachers. Justin McManus<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are close, and I continue to have an open-door policy with both business and the union movement to get this resolved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The premier also addressed calls for a strike on August 4, proposed by the left faction of the AEU, urging teachers not to take part as it would inconvenience families and harm vulnerable children.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Striking<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the biggest public sector agreement in Victorian history,\u201d Carroll said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is $5 billion over four years in wages and conditions to make our teachers and our education support staff the highest paid in the nation with the best conditions. I\u2019m urging anyone considering going on strike not to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carroll, whose role as education minister has been complicated by his sudden ascension to premier this week, said he would have more to say on the future of the portfolio \u2013 and a broader cabinet reshuffle \u2013 in the coming days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said education is close to my heart … I value this portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 70 members of the union\u2019s left faction met on Wednesday night and have called for more industrial action, including another strike.<\/p>\n

They are sticking to a demand of a 35 per cent pay increase over three years, backdated to January, a cap of 25 students per class, a reduction in teaching time and improved conditions for education support staff.<\/p>\n

\"AEUAEU Victoria president Justin Mullaly.Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n

Department of Education deputy secretary David Howes sent a letter to public school teachers warning them that any potential strike on August 4 would fall outside the protected action window.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Australian Education Union must provide the department five working days\u2019 notice before any protected stop work action can take place,\u201d he said in the letter addressed to principals on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Maddi<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cStop work action that is taken without formal notification is considered unprotected industrial action,\u201d Howes wrote.<\/p>\n

According to the letter, the department has not received any notification from the AEU about planned action.<\/p>\n

The union is set to meet on Friday, where it will decide upon the next campaign steps and any future industrial action.<\/p>\n

Victorian president Justin Mullaly last week warned of further industrial action if the government failed to budge on funding state schools and education staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will escalate our campaign if we need to,\u201d he told thousands of applauding educators.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"CarolineCaroline Schelle<\/a> is an education reporter, and joined The Age in 2022. She previously covered courts at AAP.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.\"AngusAngus Delaney<\/a> is a reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-832730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}