New South Wales
New rules offer hope for early childhood teachers
Early childhood teachers have the same qualifications as school teachers, yet some are paid $30,000 a year less.
The Federal Government’s Secure Work Better Jobs Act, introduced in June, offers a new way of bargaining that might improve the pay and conditions of early childhood teachers.
The legislation allows unions to bargain for enterprise agreements with groups of employers.
The IEUA NSW/ACT Branch, along with the United Workers Union (UWU), which represents ECEC educators in NSW, and the Australian Education Union (AEU), which represents ECEC teachers in Victoria, jointly lodged a supported bargaining application at the Fair Work Commission in August.
A group of 64 NSW employers has agreed to be part of the application. The IEU is exploring opportunities in other parts of NSW where there are groups of early childhood teachers that would benefit from being part of a multi-enterprise agreement.
Tasmania
War of words
IEU members in Tasmanian Catholic schools are frustrated at the slow pace of negotiations towards their new agreement.
The union encouraged members to contact the Catholic Education Tasmania (CET) bargaining team, and forward their messages to the union.
The result was thousands of words about teacher shortages, pay inequities and conditions not matching government schools.
“It is not justifiable for teachers in the Catholic sector to be underpaid and therefore undervalued,” wrote one member.
“Every school is feeling the pain of not having enough teachers to cover classes. It is self-sabotage to think people are going to continue to work if they are undervalued. Teachers’ goodwill has diminished, and people are feeling burnt out.”
Other issues of concern raised by CET claims included the forced transfer of staff between schools, an increase in the number of days that teachers can be required to work, a reduction in the scope of consultative committees and extending the period of notice required on resignation.
Victoria
The new deal covering most Victorian Catholic schools has seen IEU organisers visiting schools across the state, reinforcing how the ‘workload agreement’ can help its members.
Consultation has focused on time in lieu and the 30+8 workload regulation model, both new ideas to the sector. Organisers report that schools with a culture of cooperation are faring best, which underlines the importance of consultative committees in the new regime.
Consultative committees are representative of staff needs. A formal recommendation can be made by three members of a six-member consultative committee – and if it is rejected, reasons must be provided in writing. This deals with the ‘deadlock’ situation in which the three employer representatives could veto a position put forward by union and staff representatives.
The union has communicated lesser-known benefits of the agreement via a series of member-only emails. These have highlighted everything from support staff re-classifications to meeting limits, flexible leave, reductions in scheduled class times, improved leave provisions and the minimisation of the spread of hours worked by part-time employees.
The union expects this combination of targeted communications and traditional face-to-face meetings with organisers to change the work culture at most schools, because those which embrace the new model will run more efficiently.
Northern Territory
Haileybury Rendall members seek competitive rates of pay
IEU members at Haileybury Rendall School in Darwin are looking for equitable pay rates as collective negotiations commence.
NT Organiser Jengis Osman said securing competitive wages was key for IEU members, who want to ensure staff are remunerated in line with other schools in the NT.
“Haileybury Rendall teacher salaries lag behind NT public sector and non-government education sector rates,” Jengis said.
“The school needs teacher wages to remain competitive with NT market rates because teachers can find higher remunerated work elsewhere in Darwin.”
Haileybury Rendall was formed after a Melbourne-based school employer purchased the old Kormilda College in 2018.
Jengis said IEU members previously employed by Kormilda College fought for two years to achieve the first collective agreement under the new school management in 2020.
“The new employer had shamefully tried to terminate the collective agreement conditions it inherited, attempting to introduce a diminution of working conditions, including unpaid extra-curricular activity on weekends,” Jengis said.
“After a long fight and considerable tenacity, our members successfully achieved a collective agreement which enhanced conditions, including paid extra-curricular activity,” he said.
Queensland
QuEST online provides new PD opportunities for members
IEU-QNT members now have access to a suite of new professional development (PD) opportunities through the QuEST platform, expanding the range of member-exclusive benefits.
The Queensland Education Support and Training (QuEST) program, delivered in partnership with the Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU), provides quality professional development opportunities for teachers and school leaders.
QuEST offers a mix of live and on-demand online courses ranging from hour-long to all-day programs, which are presented by teachers from across Australia.
Our union subsidises the course costs for members, while Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) training is available to members free of charge.
As QuEST is an accredited training provider, members can seek funding for courses from their school as part of their PD plan.
Participants of all QuEST sessions receive a certificate of attendance, which can assist in meeting compulsory professional development (CPD) requirements for registration purposes.
The program is available to all IEU-QNT members. Members should select ‘other union – IEU’ during the registration process. Members can find a full schedule of QuEST courses for 2023 and registration details online at www.qtu.asn.au/QuEST
Western Australia
Branch in an Australian first
In July, the WA Branch lodged an application in the Fair Work Commission for a “single interest employer authorisation,” of bargaining for support staff employed in 163 Catholic schools across Western Australia. Before changes to the Fair Work Act in June, only employers could make these applications.
Catholic employers were reluctant to bargain for support staff, wanting to deal with teachers first. The moment the law changed to allow us to right this wrong, the IEU did so, making this the first application of its kind in Australia.
After two years, 22 bargaining meetings, 14 draft agreements, two no votes and over 50 claims rejected by Catholic employers, the IEU lodged a bargaining dispute in the Fair Work Commission seeking assistance to break the deadlock. Both parties have agreed to participate in Commission-assisted bargaining.
Both matters are ongoing, but the IEU stands ready to take the action required to improve the working lives of our members.
Bargaining for the 11 Anglican Schools Commission schools has also just commenced.
South Australia
Strong argument for meaningful pay increases
Enterprise bargaining in the Lutheran sector and a significant number of independent schools — including some large campuses — are at various stages of progress, but as expected, teacher workload, support staff classification and pay increases are major bargaining points.
News from NSW that public school staff (and by binding agreement, staff in NSW Catholic dioceses) will receive unprecedented pay increases in response to collective action by NSW union members has ramifications in SA.
This pay outcome gives strong argument for meaningful pay increases in the SA public school sector, and like NSW, the SA Catholic sector is also aligned with these pay increases.
Preparations for the impending Catholic enterprise agreement (EA) negotiations in 2024 are underway with regular strategy and planning meetings.
One key focus brought to the attention of SA members in Catholic schools is the win by Victorian IEU members for greatly reduced Student Contact Time (SCT) through their ‘30+8’ model for teacher workload.
This means SA Catholic teachers are completing four hours extra of SCT per week, totaling 160 extra hours of work per year. This makes for a strong collective bargaining point if members want change.