As we go to press the Diocesan Directors have indicated to their employees that a pay offer is ‘on the table’. This response has long been sought by the union.
The quantum – 2.5% from January 2020 in NSW for teachers, support staff and principals, followed by 2.28% in January 2021. In the ACT the outcome will be a 3% increase from July 2020 for teachers.
This outcome in a complex, hopefully post-COVID, environment has not been generated in a vacuum.
Member and chapter action across NSW and the ACT has driven this outcome. Within a brief period of three weeks, IEU members signalled their discontent by endorsing the call for bargaining to resume, to ensure pay parity and to finalise outstanding matters.
Catholic independent schools are considering the same pay offer but members are dismayed that the right to arbitrate a dispute is not yet available as a dispute resolution mechanism. To be able to take a matter to the Fair Work Commission ‘umpire’ is a basic right and should not be denied.
Catholic systemic schools, as well as a multitude of other Catholic aged care facilities and hospitals, enjoy the capacity for a matter to be resolved by the Fair Work Commission.