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CATHOLIC school teachers in Leongatha are taking their fight for the right to strike all the way to the Vatican as more than 10,000 Victorian public school teachers plan to walk off the job today in the first statewide strike under a Labor government in 18 years.

A group of staff at St Laurence O'Toole Primary School plan to write to Pope Leo XIV requesting Catholic teachers be granted the right to take industrial action.

Music teacher Brett Whittle who is spearheading the push said a majority of the school's staff supported the move.

"It's quite atrocious," Mr Whittle said.

"How can you lose the right to strike? I don't really understand. You'd think it would be a fundamental right here in Australia."

Catholic schools operate under a multienterprise bargaining agreement governed by the Fair Work Act and because each Catholic region is a separate legal entity, teachers face fines of up to $19,800 per breach if they strike without special authorisation.

Mr Whittle said the Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Limited, known as DOSCEL, governs 39 primary schools and five secondary schools across Gippsland and was consistently unresponsive to the desires of teachers.

"I know amongst the staff there's a lot of feeling that we want to go out, we want to do something. Why can't we? This is crazy," Mr Whittle said.

He said some staff had discussed standing out the front of the school with placards before the start of the school day in solidarity with their public school colleagues.

The Independent Education Union is currently seeking a Single Interest Authorisation from the Fair Work Commission that would unlock the right to a protected action ballot for Catholic school staff.

Local schools hit hard

Schools across Bass Coast and South Gippsland were thrown into disarray by the strike with several forced to cancel normal classes.

Bass Coast College was among the hardest hit with 84 per cent of teaching staff taking part in the industrial action. The college told parents it would operate a supervision only program for all year levels.

Loch Primary School was also significantly impacted with the majority of staff not available on the day. Principal Liz Alderson told parents only two teachers and two education support staff would be onsite and the school would run supervision only. There was no outside school hours care available at Loch with all bookings cancelled.

San Remo Primary School told parents three of its teaching staff would be striking. Students in some grades were told they would have a normal program with possible modifications but students in Prep and one senior class were told not to attend.

Inverloch Primary School told parents 18 of its staff across 22 classes would be taking strike action leaving the school operating supervision only. The Grade 6 camp was still going ahead.

Pay dispute at the heart of the walkout

The 24-hour stopwork followed a ballot in which 98 per cent of Australian Education Union members voted in favour of strike action.

AEU Victorian branch president Justin Mullaly said eight months of negotiations with the Allan Government had produced no acceptable offer.

The government put forward an 18.5 per cent pay rise over four years which the union rejected as completely unacceptable.

The AEU is seeking a 35 per cent increase over three years which it says is needed to address an 11 per cent real wage cut since 2021 and close the gap with other states.

Victorian teachers are currently the lowest paid in Australia. By October this year an experienced Victorian teacher will earn more than $15,000 less than a teacher in New South Wales doing the same job.

The union says teachers are working an average of 12 hours of unpaid overtime each week.

Education Minister Ben Carroll said schools would remain open with non-striking staff, relief teachers and retired educators providing supervision.

AEU members rallied at Victorian Trades Hall before marching to Parliament House.

Parents are urged to check directly with their school for specific arrangements if further action is called.