Victorian public school teachers are set to strike on November 21, three days before the federal election, challenging John Brumby's 3.25 per cent pay limit.

Victorian teachers are now the lowest paid in the country. We are demanding significant pay increases to keep pace with the rising cost of living, rents and mortgages. We also want a reduction in class sizes and the number of teachers working in contract positions, which have not fallen since the Kennett era.

Brumby claims that education is his "number one priority". His government is sitting on a $1.4 billion surplus fuelled by land and sales tax from the property boom. This was more than double the expected figure of $720 million and is more than enough to pay decent wages and improve conditions for teachers and students.

But his government is taking a hardline, demanding that teachers show "productivity gains" for any increases over the pay limit. Teachers have already had to overcome the obstacle of a WorkChoices-imposed secret ballot run by the Electoral Commission. The ballot of 26,000 AEU members, the largest conducted, has been a bureaucratic shambles.

The first ballot had to be completely abandoned after incorrect information in a database provided by the Education Department resulted in many union members not receiving ballots!

This caused widespread confusion and has made the task of mobilising the required 50 per cent turnout for the second ballot, and for the strike itself, that much harder.

Our mass stopwork meeting at Vodafone Arena on November 21 will consider an official motion to hold another state-wide stoppage on February 14 and, if no progress is made, rolling regional four hour stoppages throughout term one.

Teachers can win this dispute, but we will need to follow the lead of the nurses and take ongoing industrial action.

By Hamish McPherson
AEU delegate, Fairfield Primary School, Melbourne