Victorian Education Union public school teachers, principals and support staff have voted down a state government offer on pay and conditions, with 57.7 per cent of members voting against the offer while the rest supported the deal.
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 teacher's strike in more than a decade.
Members have sent a clear message to the premier and her government that they feel undervalued and overworked while public schools remain the lowest funded in Australia, union branch president Justin Mullaly said.
"The in-principle agreement and current levels of public school funding do not go far enough to address their concerns," he said in a statement on Friday.
"This is the message I will strongly convey to the state government."
Government minister Harriet Shing said the government will keep working with the education union to resolve the dispute.
"We don't walk away from the negotiation, and we don't turn our backs on workers," she said.
"They deserve a pay rise. We always negotiate in good faith."
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 sends a clear message to the government and union leadership that members would not be sold out.
"We demand our leadership listen to us, and restart our industrial campaign," Ms Gibson said.
"We need serious strikes that can put the state government under the same pressure we face everyday in underfunded and under-resourced classrooms."
The union's council, made up of 120 elected teachers, education support staff and principals, will meet on Friday to determine the union's next steps following the failed vote.
Scheduled rolling half-day stop works and bans on certain activities across the state were put on hold while the proposal was put to members on the government's offer.
Victorian opposition education spokesman Brad Rowswell demanded assurance from Premier Jacinta Allan that she will get back to the negotiation table and deal with the matter urgently.
"Teachers deserve to be respected for the work they do and the contribution they make. Teachers deserve to be paid more," he said.
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.
All 1600 Victorian public schools remained open but about 500 were significantly disrupted.
Members had demanded a 35 per cent increase over three years, smaller class sizes and more flexible working arrangements, including the possibility of a four-day work week.
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