00:02Negotiations between Victorian educators and the state government are at somewhat of a stalemate currently.
00:09It was just two weeks ago that the Victorian government made an offer to teachers, principals and education support staff
00:17offering a 28 per cent pay rise over four years and halving the number of compulsory meetings.
00:24Now, that would mean that 90,000 full time teachers would have received an additional $1,000 each month.
00:32But the education union struck down this offer with more than half of its members voting against it,
00:39concerned that it didn't properly address their increasing workload.
00:45Now, pressure is mounting on the new Victorian Premier Ben Carroll and his education portfolio,
00:52which he is set to hand over with a cabinet reshuffle in the coming weeks.
00:58Moreover, though, the Australian Education Union's Victorian branch is set to meet today
01:05and its subgroup, the Fight the Crisis group, is planning to bring forward a motion for a statewide strike,
01:13a 12-hour strike next Tuesday.
01:16Now, the group is blaming the Premier Ben Carroll and his predecessor Jacinta Allen
01:21for causing what they're calling a festering schools crisis.
01:26Now, the group says it has the support of 14 sub-branches,
01:30but the union has emphasised that it hasn't endorsed this strike
01:35and if it does go ahead, it won't be protected industrial action.
01:40Now, it was just last week, though, that 20,000 educators marched to state parliament in Melbourne
01:47and hundreds more gathered in towns across regional Victoria.
01:51The second major strike this year, they're calling on the Victorian government
01:57to agree to a three-year deal and act more towards reducing educators' workloads,
02:03with educators working on average 12 hours of unpaid work each week.
02:10Now, the Premier did reportedly meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
02:16to discuss this issue this week, as pressure is mounting on Ben Carroll
02:21to keep teachers and students in the classroom.
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