Teachers employed at the Islamic School of Canberra will achieve 18% pay rises following an agreement reached on the evening of a scheduled one-day strike. Following the agreement, members agreed not to proceed with the scheduled action.
Staff at the Islamic School of Canberra were covered by an enterprise agreement that tied pay rates generally to those applying in ACT government and Catholic systemic schools. However, teachers had not received pay increases since early 2014 because they had been unable to negotiate a new enterprise agreement.
A major problem was the suspension in 2016 of federal government funding to the school which had been part of the Australian Federation of Islamic Council (AFIC) group of schools. Following an appeal by AFIC, federal funding was restored on condition that the school was sold. The sale was a protracted process over 2017 and 2018.
The Union made renewed approaches on behalf of members for pay rises in 2017 and 2018. Eventually an interim 3% pay rise was paid in April 2019 but member claims for additional pay rises were ignored. Member frustration boiled over and the Union applied in May for a Protected Action Ballot Order on behalf of teachers at the school. The ballot of teacher members endorsed protected action and a one-day strike was scheduled to take place on 21 June 2019.
Following the revised offer from the School Board, the Union recommended to members that the protected action not proceed. Members will receive a further 3% increase from July 2019, 6% in 2020 and 3% in each of 2021 and 2022. Member support was essential in achieving these increases.