The ongoing and seemingly unending campaign is frustrating. The strong message from members with whom I have spoken is ‘what are they afraid of'?
Purporting to practice Catholic values, promoting them in schools and being good social citizens, stands in stark contradiction to the employers’ methodology of negotiating with staff and our nominated representative – the Union.
Pope Francis exhorts all people to respect the dignity of the human person, especially in regard to employment matters and is a strong advocate for the solidarity of the worker.
It is ironic that the reason for this dispute is how we solve disputes. However, there are other significant unresolved issues still outstanding, including class sizes in Sydney.
As a Union we are still awaiting a proposed agreement that can be properly negotiated. Several attempts have been made to identify how we can find common ground, however this is falling on deaf ears.
Industrial action is going to happen, in many forms – stoppages, rallies, wearing a badge or communicating with the wider community.
Promote the discussion in your workplace and support your colleagues, and look at how you can make your dissatisfaction known because we have not fallen for the ‘just trust me’ line.