Canberra public school educators on strike on 11 June over pay and conditions. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
The ACT Government’s been put on notice about further strikes and other industrial action after union members rejected the latest pay offer for teachers.
Australian Education Union ACT members met on Friday (11 September) to discuss the latest offer, which included a 9 per cent salary increase over three years, and an additional increase for teachers at the top of the classroom pay scale and for some school leaders.
Pay was one of the union’s 25 claims, and the 9 per cent salary increase was similar to the recently rejected Administrative and Related Classifications Agreement.
AEU ACT branch council president Angela Burroughs said the offer didn’t deliver fair pay across the workforce or go far enough to address mounting challenges in the education sector.
“The offer acknowledges some of the pressures facing our schools, but it doesn’t yet provide the guarantees needed to fix them,” she said.
“Staffing shortages and split and collapsed classes have become chronic. We want a staffing guarantee in the agreement, real provisions to improve safety at work, and reduced class sizes.
“There has been some welcome and hard-won progress, but after more than 12 months of bargaining, this offer still falls short.”
Union members have endorsed escalating industrial actions from 21 September, and continuing into Term 4.
This would begin with short, rolling stop-work actions and potentially escalate to another full-day strike.
“If the government wants to avoid escalation in Term 4, there is a clear pathway: listen to our members and improve the offer,” Ms Burroughs said.
“We are giving the government every opportunity to resolve this dispute. But this is not an indefinite period for more talk. There is a clear timetable and a clear consequence if the government fails to act.”
Public Service and Education Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith acknowledged the union’s stance, but said the offer was a “genuine attempt” to reach a fair and balanced agreement.
“[The offer] would have seen our public school teachers become the highest paid in the country, outside of the Northern Territory, from February 2027,” she said.
“We understand the AEU’s Branch Council has rejected the government’s offer, and we acknowledge the union’s feedback about staffing and workload.
“This is something that has been explicitly recognised with additional resources and staffing for 2027, as well as improving centralised processes to better support schools experiencing staffing shortages.”
Negotiations will continue, but pressures on the ACT budget will also be front of mind.
“We know teachers are keen to see an outcome sooner rather than later, so we’ll be working quickly on the next steps forward,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
