TWO Bendigo preschools have closed today as their teachers strike about failed pay deal negotiations.
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White Hills Kindergarten and Helm Street Preschool Centre will be closed for the day as the Australian Education Union's Victorian branch holds a rally this morning at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne.
Loddon Mallee Preschool Association chief executive Phil Hocking said staff from the preschools had notified the association they were taking part in the action.
"We’ve tried to cover them, if we could, in order to minimise the impact on families and if we couldn’t provide cover, we’ve reached a point where we have to close the centre," he said.
He said six staff members from the Bendigo preschools were taking part in the industrial action.
Across the Loddon Mallee region, one staff member each from Echuca and Swan Hill preschools were also involved in the industrial action but no centres in those towns were closed, he said.
Mr Hocking said he supported the teachers in the industrial action but said other action was also needed.
"We support what the teachers are doing, we would like them to achieve parity with primary school teachers but it’s just a matter of whether or not industrial action is the best approach to achieving it," he said.
"Personally, I think the union needs to continue to negotiate with the Early Learning Association of Australia and the Municipal Association of Victoria.
"We’re in the process of negotiating a new enterprise agreement, the union have some demands for wage parity with primary school teachers.
"Talks to some degree have broken down now, we need to get back to the negotiating table to resolve this."
Almost 15 months has passed since negotiations began between the union and Early Learning Association and Municipal Association of Victoria - which represent preschools.
The union's Victorian president Meredith Peace said preschool teachers were seeking a deal that would achieve pay parity with their primary school counterparts.
Last month Fairfax Media reported the union had rejected a 2.25 per cent pay increase.
Ms Peace said it had been more than 10 years since preschool teachers had been on strike.
She said preschool teachers were paid between five per cent and nine per cent less than school colleagues, respectively, at the beginning and top of their salary scale.
Ms Peace said the union was willing to continue its industrial action after the strike.
"Our council will continue to make decisions about further industrial action if the employer groups and government sitting behind them aren't prepared to to make a fair and decent offer," she said.
"We'll continue to campaign."
Early Learning Association Australian chief executive Shane Lucas said preschools had been told to close if they were unable to find sufficient replacement staff.
"If there's a shadow of a doubt that duty of care is a concern we'd encourage them to close," he said.
Mr Lucas accused the union of using the pay dispute to put pressure on the Victorian government.
He said the association had made a revised offer earlier this month that would have ensured parity for preschool teachers and primary school teachers over four years.
Mr Lucas said the union had also rejected that offer.
In an email to preschools, Mr Lucas said the association's most recent offer was a "considered response made in good faith" to address the union's demands within the funding available from the government.
"We believe our new proposal substantially addresses the union's concern to achieve salary parity between early childhood education teachers and their colleagues in the primary school system," he wrote.
That offer included a new proposal on workloads and classifications, he wrote.
But the union insisted the latest offer would not result in parity for preschool teachers. Ms Peace said the proposed changes to classifications were also unfair.
Mr Lucas said union members would decide whether to strike and "we respect individuals right to make that decision".
He told Fairfax Media that the state government funded the majority of kindergarten teachers' salaries while parent fees and fundraisers accounted for the remainder.
The state government declined to comment.
- with The Age