"Melbourne council workers and Victorian teachers to strike during budget week", 20 April 2026

The planned industrial action for workers comes after council staff in three northern Melbourne local government areas stopped collecting rubbish earlier this month to demand better pay and conditions.

The Australian Services Union (ASU) has announced more than 1,000 council workers will walk off the job on May 5 — the day the Victorian government hands down its budget.

The ASU said the strike would cause significant disruption to rubbish collection, mowing, library services and aged-care services.

ASU Victoria and Tasmania secretary Tash Wark said that understanding a city-wide strike was "a last resort".

… A joint statement from the Melbourne, Greater Dandenong, Darebin, Hobsons Bay, Hume, Maribyrnong, Merri-bek and Yarra councils said "none of the eight councils have been notified of any ASU strike action on 5 May".

… Pascoe Vale MP Anthony Cianflone … said kerbside bin collections had been indefinitely halted in some suburbs north of Bell Street in Melbourne's north.

Mr Cianflone said while he respected the right of the ASU to take protected action and calls for better pay and conditions for workers, he expressed concern about the impact the pay dispute was having on local communities.

… Victorian public school teachers have also escalated their industrial action, announcing they will stop work for half a day across the state starting from budget week.

As part of the pay dispute, public school teachers have also put bans on adding written comments to report cards and they will no longer respond to some emails.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) is asking for a 35 per cent pay rise over four years for its members, arguing Victorian teachers are paid far less than those in other states…

AEU Victorian branch president Justin Mullaly said staff were overworked and underpaid…