Third strike averted as teachers accept sweetened deal

A third state-wide public school teacher strike has been called off after unionised educators voted to endorse a sweetened pay and conditions offer.

Unionised teachers and education staff voted in favour of the Victorian government's offer of a 28.3 per cent to 32.4 per cent pay rise over four years, the Australian Education Union announced on Monday.

The deal brings to a close a year-long industrial dispute and ends the need for a third state-wide strike, which had been scheduled for Wednesday.

"Well done to every AEU member for the pressure you put on the government," the union's Victorian branch president Justin Mullaly said in a statement on social media on Monday.

The offer was backed by 79 per cent of union members and will now proceed to a vote of all employees as required under the Fair Work Act.

Public school teachers and other education staff had been locked in a dispute with the Labor state government for more than a year as the union pushed for a 35 per cent pay rise over four years.

Before the deal, Victorian graduate teachers were the worst paid in the country, while experienced teachers earned about $12,000 less per year than those in NSW.

Educators were also pushing for better working conditions, citing unmanageable workloads, regular unpaid work and poor work-life balance.

The latest offer, which included a one-off $2000 bonus and a one per cent annual lump sum payment for staff at the top of their pay scales, was put to the union by Education Minister Gabrielle Williams a week earlier.

It also featured a cap on face-to-face teaching hours and maintained a reduction in annual meeting commitments from 80 hours to 40 hours.

The negotiations have boiled over into two strikes, with teachers and staff walking off the job for 24 hours.

An estimated 35,000 protesters marched through Melbourne's city centre in March, the first action of its kind of 13 years.

It was followed by a second strike in July, which drew an estimated 20,000 protesters into central Melbourne.

The latest offer was the first put to the union since Ms Williams took over as education minister, replacing now-premier Ben Carroll.