More strike disruptions loom for students after public school educators rejected a government's wage and conditions offer that would have made them some of the best paid in Australia.
The Victorian Education Union's more than 60,000 public school teachers, principals and support staff have voted down a state government offer on pay and conditions, with 57.7 per cent of voting members rejecting the offer.
The Labor government in May put forward a revised pay offer of between 28 to 32 per cent over four years following the state's first teachers' strike in more than a decade.
While the minimum 28 per cent pay bump was a "good offer", union branch president Justin Mullaly said members were also under immediate and critical pressure around workload.
"There is more that this government needs to do in a future offer in terms of addressing those concerns," he told reporters on Friday.
Education Minister Ben Carroll accused the union's leaders of being out of touch with members after they agreed to the in-principle deal but failed to get it over the line with members.
"These are the best conditions in the nation with the best wages," he told reporters.
"We do not have an inexhaustible supply of funds."
He warned the offer might not be as generous if a Liberal or One Nation government was elected in five months at the state poll.
The offer was endorsed by the union's leaders but faced an internal campaign from some members who demanded more 24- to 48-hour statewide strikes.
Socialist in Schools member Belle Gibson said the vote result sent a clear message to the government and union leadership members would not be taken advantage of or sold out.
"We need serious strikes that can put the state government under the same pressure we face everyday in underfunded and under-resourced classrooms," Ms Gibson said.
The union's primary and secondary council met on Friday and called on the government to return to the negotiating table as they prepare go back to members to ask what they need to see in a revised offer.
The union's industrial action campaign, suspended during the voting period, will recommence in term three and includes bans on Labor politicians attending schools, bans on attending some meetings and responding to emails.
Mr Mullaly said more strikes were "certainly on the cards".
"We must make sure that there is a very, very clear message, including through industrial action and stop-work action," he said.
The union's next steps will be decided at a meeting on July 17.
Victorian opposition education spokesman Brad Rowswell said teachers did not feel respected and deserved to be paid more, demanding Premier Jacinta Allan get back to the negotiation table urgently.
"Frustration is felt not just by Victorian teachers, but by parents and increasingly students who are being impacted by the inability of the decision to get this deal done,” he told reporters.
Under the government's rejected offer, an experienced teacher can expect to go from a $118,063 salary to $151,419 by 2029, taking them ahead of their NSW counterparts.
Unionised public school educators walked off the job across Victoria in March for the first time in more than 13 years during a 24-hour strike, with more than 35,000 people marching to the front steps of state parliament.
