Teacher Strike Pay Calculator: What a Strike Day Costs

Number	Gross deducted	After tax	Super not paid
1 strike day	$357	$243	$43
2 strike days	$714	$486	$86
3 strike days	$1,072	$729	$129
5 strike days	$1,786	$1,215	$214
10 strike days	$3,572	$2,429	$429

In short

Teachers aren't paid for time on strike. A full-day strike usually costs one day's salary: annual pay ÷ 260, or annual × 12 ÷ 313 ÷ 10 in WA, the ACT and the NT. For an ACT teacher at the top of the scale that's about $495 before tax, but only about $337 after tax.

How to use the strike pay calculator

1

Choose your state and how you're paid

Pick your state, then your pay step, a salary you type in, or casual. For casual and relief teachers the cost is simply the day rate you'd have earned.
2

Set the type of action

Choose a full-day strike, a half-day strike or a stop-work meeting. For a stop-work, set how long it runs and how many ordinary hours are in your working day (7.6 by default).
3

Enter how many times

Use the slider for the number of strike days or stop-works. The table below the results shows the cost of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10.
4

Tick HECS-HELP if it applies

A smaller income means a slightly smaller compulsory HELP repayment, so the real cost of a strike is a little lower.

How payroll works out a strike deduction

There's no special strike rate. Payroll treats the time as unpaid and takes out the pay for those hours. The calculator uses the usual convention for each state. WA, the ACT and the NT define fortnightly pay as annual salary × 12 ÷ 313, so a day is a tenth of that. NSW, Victoria, Queensland, SA and Tasmania are worked out as annual salary ÷ 260 working days. The two methods differ by only a few dollars, but if your payslip shows a slightly different figure, that's why.

A half-day strike is half a day's pay. A stop-work meeting is costed by the hour: a 2-hour stop-work in a 7.6-hour day is about 26% of a day's pay. Some employers round to whole hours or count a teacher's day differently, so check your agreement if the exact figure matters.

Worked example

ACT teacher at TL8 ($129,106) on a full-day strike

Daily rate: $129,106 × 12 ÷ 313 ÷ 10: $494.97
Take-home for the year, no strike (2026–27): $97,272
Take-home with one day deducted: $96,935
Employer super not paid (12.5%): about $62

Real cost of the strike day about $337 after tax

Calculated with the site's 2026–27 tax engine: resident, tax-free threshold claimed, no HELP debt. At a 32% marginal rate (30% tax plus 2% Medicare), you keep about 68 cents of every dollar, so you lose about 68 cents of every dollar deducted.

For a NSW teacher on Step 5 ($115,972, from 9 October 2026), a full day is $115,972 ÷ 260 = $446.05 before tax and about $303 after tax. Use the NSW pay scale or ACT pay scale to find your exact step.

Stop-work meetings and the 4-hour rule

Public school teachers in Victoria, the ACT and the NT are covered by the federal Fair Work Act. For protected industrial action, the employer must not pay you for the time you're on strike. For action that isn't protected, the Act requires at least 4 hours' pay to be withheld for the day, so a short stop-work could cost more than the hours alone. The calculator flags this when you pick a stop-work in those three places.

Teachers in NSW, Queensland, WA, SA and Tasmania public schools are covered by state industrial law, which has its own rules on deductions. In practice your union will tell you whether an action is authorised and how payroll will treat it. Catholic and independent school teachers are covered by Fair Work, like the SA Catholic teachers who took protected action in September 2026.

Super, leave and pay steps

The calculator shows the super your employer won't pay on the deducted time, at your state's rate (12% in most states, 12.5% in the ACT, 12.75% in Queensland). A strike day doesn't usually break your continuity of service, but whether it counts towards long service leave or your next increment depends on your state's rules. If you're within days of a step increment or an LSL milestone, ask your union or payroll before the action. Deductions usually come out of the next pay or two, not spread over the year.

Teacher strikes in 2025 and 2026

ACT: a 2-hour stoppage in May 2026, a full-day strike on 11 June 2026 (the first in 15 years) and a 2-hour stop-work on 24 September, after members rejected a 9% over 3 years offer. More Term 4 action has been flagged.
Victoria: statewide strikes in March and July 2026. A third was called off when members accepted the revised offer; the VGSA 2026 vote passed with 93.1% and the Fair Work Commission approved the agreement on 16 October 2026.
Queensland: strikes on 6 August 2025 and in November 2025, before the dispute went to QIRC arbitration.
Tasmania: work bans and rolling 24-hour strikes on 24 to 26 March 2026, before members accepted the Teachers Agreement 2025 (72% yes, April 2026).

For the full picture of your rights, read do teachers get paid when they strike and our tracker of teacher strikes in 2026. To weigh a day's pay against what's being bargained for, the teacher pay rise tracker and the back pay calculator show what each offer is worth to you.

Frequently asked questions

Do teachers get paid when they strike?

No, time on strike is unpaid. Your employer deducts pay for the hours or days you're on strike, and employer super isn't paid on that time either.

How much does a strike day cost a teacher?

Usually one day's salary, which is annual pay ÷ 260 in most states, or annual × 12 ÷ 313 ÷ 10 in WA, the ACT and the NT. On $115,972 that's $446.05 before tax and about $303 after tax.

How much is deducted for a 2-hour stop-work?

About a quarter of a day's pay if your day is 7.6 hours, so roughly $117 on a $115,972 salary. In Victoria, the ACT and the NT, action that isn't protected under the Fair Work Act requires at least 4 hours' pay to be withheld.

Is strike pay deducted before or after tax?

Before tax. The deduction lowers your taxable income, so you pay less tax that year and the real cost is roughly 60 to 70% of the gross amount for most teachers.

Do casual relief teachers lose pay during a strike?

Yes, in effect. Casual and relief teachers aren't booked or paid for days when they don't work, so the cost is the day rate you'd otherwise have earned.

Does a strike day affect long service leave or my pay step?

It can. A strike day usually doesn't break continuity of service, but whether it counts as service for leave or increments depends on your state's rules, so check with your union or payroll if you're close to a milestone.

Do unions pay strike pay to teachers?

Don't assume so. Some union branches run hardship or strike funds, but there's no general entitlement, so ask your branch what's available before the action.

Guides that go with this tool

Strike pay

Do teachers get paid when they strike? The rules in every state (2026)

What a strike or stop-work costs you, the Fair Work Act rules (ss470-474), Queensland's different law and worked examples.

Industrial action

Teacher strikes in 2026: every stoppage, state by state, and how each ended

A dated timeline of teacher strikes in 2025-26, the deals that followed and the disputes still open.