Letter from our AEU members

AEU stopwork 24 March

19/03/2026

Dear Parent/Carer,

AEU members at Bendigo Primary School will be stopping work for 24 hours on Tuesday 24 March 2026. It is important that you know exactly why we have reluctantly decided to take this action.

We understand our action presents difficulties for some parents and carers. However, the fact is that when it comes to investing in education, Victoria is bottom of the class. We are very concerned about the impact of this on your child’s education.

Victorian public schools are the lowest funded in Australia and teachers are the lowest paid. This means that principals and education support staff are also undervalued.

By October 2026:

• an experienced Victorian teacher will be earning as much as $15,359 a year less than a similar teacher in New South Wales 
• a classroom-based education support employee starting out will be 10.5% behind their NSW counterpart
• and a Victorian school principal new to the role would start at $27,841 or 18% behind for performing the same roles and responsibilities as a similar principal in NSW.

On top of that, Victorian public school staff work on average 12 hours of unpaid overtime each week.

Australian Education Union members in every public school across Victoria are trying to get the state government to fix these and other problems through a new pay and conditions agreement. We have been negotiating for over eight months without success – the government has made no offer to improve pay and conditions at all.

The state government refuses to invest the money that would allow us to recruit and retain the staff we need in our schools – this is especially important for the learning and wellbeing of our students at a time of significant staffing shortages. 

We are left with no alternative but to take action on 24 March 2026, and principals, teachers and education support staff would like to count on your support in this campaign. 

Please let the state government know that you want Victorian public school staff to have increased salaries and improved conditions. One supportive action that you can take would be to write to your state Labor member of the Victorian Parliament to tell them that you expect your school to be fully funded and that school staff receive decent pay and conditions to retain the existing workforce and attract the next generation to the profession.

 Please use this QR code to find the contact details of your local Labor member of parliament. 

AEU members at Bendigo Violet St Primary School thank you for your support.