Historic highlights

John Nicholson

President, 1969 General Secretary, 1970–1977

In February 1966, when I was 25, I joined the Assistant Masters’ Association (AMA). I’d been teaching at De La Salle Kingsgrove since 1959. My formal qualification was a modest pass in the 1957 Leaving Certificate. Not to mention my added qualifications: I was alive, Catholic, and had a burning desire to teach. But by 1966, I had seven years’ experience, an ACP diploma, a Teachers’ Guild Diploma, and I was happy with my job and my pay.

My colleague, Bob, a Teachers’ College graduate, joined the staff in 1964. In 1965, the Archdiocese struck, appropriating administration of salaries and evaluation of teacher qualifications for all parish schools. Bob’s salary in 1964 was greater than mine; but his 1965 pay was significantly less than mine. To make matters worse for him, my salary increased.

Bob was not alone. Many teachers were much worse off than in previous years. Pay-setting was opaque. Qualifications were not always recognised and no negotiation was available. I was outraged.

A colleague said to me: “Form a union. Get an award.”

“Me?” I asked.

“Yes, you,” he said. “To calm your anger, do something about it.”

After spending most of 1965 trying to do just that, I joined the AMA. I discovered there were already 51 members, but they weren’t keen to use industrial tactics to gain salaries that reflected our responsibilities and workloads. By April I was a member of Council [the union’s decision-making body] and recruiting members in Catholic systemic schools.

Meanwhile, women teachers in independent girls’ schools sought to join the AMA, necessitating a constitutional change in 1966 and a name change to become the Assistant Masters’ and Mistresses’ Association (AMMA). They were also keen for upgraded pay rates.

But Council and long-term members were reluctant to seek an award, rejecting motions in April and November of 1966.

An historic day came on 31 March 1967. At the AGM, teachers from Catholic systemic schools and independent girls’ schools were a majority of the 48 members present. This was no accident. The minutes show:

Moved by J Nicholson [DLS Kingsgrove], Seconded by M. Smith [Abbotsleigh] that the meeting instruct Council to take steps necessary to secure an award for teachers in Independent Schools and the Council be asked to pay close attention to the prevailing salary scale in Departmental Schools. Carried.

This was the key to our call for salary justice. It was also the beginning of the IEU’s history of ensuring salary and social justice for thousands upon thousands of teachers, and later other employees within non-government schools. And it was the beginning of ensuring only qualified teachers could be employed in the independent schools sector. All of these achievements made a real difference – to members, school staff and students.

Michael Raper

General Secretary, 1981–1989

What an exciting, energised and productive period it was. In 1977, having signed up 90 new members to the Independent Teachers’ Association (a 10 per cent increase in the union’s membership at that time), the first General Secretary, John Nicholson (above) offered me the position of first ITA organiser, bought a Toyota Corolla and sent me out on the road. Four years and more than 100,000 kilometres later, ITA membership had grown from 900 to 5700 when I became General Secretary in February 1981.

The ITA remained the fastest growing union in Australia well into the 1980s because teachers throughout the non-government sector were determined to gain security of tenure; professional recognition and career development through a promotions structure; and fair reward through industrial strength to achieve better salaries and conditions.

Key battles and successes for members included:

• significantly improved job security through hundreds of reinstatement cases – challenging discrimination, privacy breaches, “no reason” dismissals and “non-renewal of contract” charades
• promotion structures in primary and secondary schools
• salary parity with government school teachers, plus working conditions in the award
• improved and portable long service leave rights after a long, school- based campaign and threatening industrial action
• superannuation (Catholic school employers and the Association of Independent schools began contributing 3% in 1988).

All this was achieved through the legitimacy and strength provided by our ever-growing membership – we were over 15,000 strong by 1989.

In 1981, we implemented a fiercely democratic union decision-making structure, still in place today, based on workplace chapters through which all members can participate. We’ve continued to build our membership through communications such as Newsmonth and NewsExtras.

Building strength at the school level was, and remains, critical to the union’s success. Thanks for these great times!

Dick Shearman

General Secretary, 1989–2012

Federal President, 1993–2014

During the period I was an IEU official and General Secretary, significant changes centred on building a stronger union presence within individual workplaces.

The campaign to win parity of long service leave conditions with government school teachers in the mid-1980s, while Michael Raper was General Secretary (below left), was the first to use school-based newsletters to members, with resolutions to be voted on in each school.

Both the Catholic and independent school employers thought this was provocative, preferring us to meet with their lawyers so we could endlessly discuss the Long Service Leave Act (NSW). And they were right.

This school-based campaign was successful because it pushed the boundaries. By 1989, members in schools had gained the confidence to participate in a half-day strike, the first Catholic and independent schools teacher general strike action by this union, over employers attempting to extract trade-offs on working conditions for a pay rise.

The strike so concerned Catholic employers that they engaged a former NSW Labor Council Secretary to give them a report on what went wrong. His report essentially said nothing had gone wrong! The union was just acting like a union in vigorously defending its members’ interests.

It was this activist approach that fundamentally changed relationships with the employers. The Catholic employers and the Association of Independent Schools agreed to separate negotiations rather than tuck in behind low-fee school salaries and pay more by grace and favour.

We also saw some employers develop more progressive industrial policies and become more willing to work with a union focused on its members.

The union won the battle against trade-offs on conditions in 1989 because members were actively engaged with their union’s campaign. Similarly, it was school-based actions that helped insulate the non-government schools sector from then PM John Howard’s regressive WorkChoices policy and other attempts to move to non-union agreements or individual contracts.

We were successful because employers had to deal with their own workers in their workplace rather than abdicating responsibility to a central employer with the pretence that anything that negatively impacted staff didn’t come from the school. This school-based approach has served IEU members well over the decades.

Patrick Lee

Federal Secretary, 1982–1988

Federal President, 1989–1993

Deputy Secretary, 1989–2003

The period from 1989 to 2003 saw some remarkable coming-of-age moments in the history of the IEU.

The 1989 general strike of Catholic and independent school teachers was a watershed, staring down a consistent practice of school employers trying to sideline the union and demand teachers’ loyalties be exclusively focused on their employers’ interests.

In 1990-91, the union ran a ground-breaking work value/special case in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (NSWIRC). It established a new national benchmark top rate for all teachers, irrespective of sector, and merged the three-year and four-year scales, allowing the predominantly primary school teaching force access to the top of the single scale.

These outcomes and others then flowed on to teachers in NSW government schools – a first for the IEU.

Along the way to the next major case run by the IEU, the union secured substantial long service leave improvements (two weeks per annum after 10 years for teachers), the first paid maternity leave provisions, and a hard-won case in the NSWIRC to gain coverage of school support staff.

In 2003-04, the union again ran a major work value/special case in the NSWIRC that achieved substantial salary increases for all teachers and, on top of that, further increases for Catholic systemic principals, assistant principals and other promotions positions that a month later flowed on to NSW government school teachers.

These achievements were won on the back of strong member support and involvement with the leadership of the union and its specialist staff. It was a period of exciting and substantial achievements, often following entrenched opposition from school employers and religious institutions.

John Quessy

Secretary, 2012–2019

Federal President, 2014–2020

The IEU was deeply saddened by former IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary John Quessy’s passing on 10 December 2023.

During his tenure as Secretary, John led highly successful campaigns for pay rises and improved working conditions in the Catholic systemic sector in 2013-14 and 2017-18, with the latter taking out the ACTU’s Campaign of the Year Award 2018.

John spearheaded the 2012 “Teachers are Teachers” campaign for pay parity for university-trained early childhood teachers with primary school teachers. This was finally resolved with considerable success in 2022.

John had a keen interest in professional issues affecting the everyday lives of teachers and supported the expansion of the union’s professional development program for members.

At the conclusion of his term in office in October 2019, John said: “My years working with members have been fantastic and the last seven as Secretary especially rewarding. It has been an absolute pleasure to work on your behalf and to have met so many members face-to-face and online over the years. We have a union in which we can all be proud.”

Gloria Taylor

Deputy Secretary, 2004–2019

Early in my time as an organiser with the then ITA, a dispute erupted in Catholic systemic schools in 1991 in the Diocese of Wagga Wagga.

The Bishop of Wagga Wagga had commissioned a draft religious education curriculum that many teachers and parents saw as regressive, narrow and negative. Teachers were denied a voice in consultations and they reported feeling intimidated, with their job security at risk.

The union leadership and organisers took up a strong presence and engagement in resolving the consultation issue, pushing back threats to other industrial rights along the way. Media coverage was extensive.

In 1993, the interventionist Bishop sought to alter leadership and structural issues in Catholic independent schools run by religious orders. The school community again fought back, with union support, and prevailed. The “Battle of Wagga” was won and union membership surged across the Riverina region.

The strength of union membership was evident, and just a few years later, in 1996, an unprecedented number of teachers in Wagga took strike action supporting a statewide wage claim, improved conditions and a joint action with the NSW Teachers Federation. Similar action occurred across the state. A new campaign would again deliver for members.

Since those days, the IEU has tripled its membership to more than 32,000, enabling many advancements for members.

Strategic campaigning and strong industrial capacity at the IEU continue to be a winning combination in work across our membership.

The IEU works to improve status, pay and conditions for our very deserving teachers and education staff. I cherish having played a part in this dynamic organisation.

Christine Wilkinson

President, 2001–2022

As I look back on my 21 years as President of the NSW/ACT Branch of the IEU, fond memories come flooding back, along with a realisation of just how things have changed in that time.

My agenda as President was always to put the members I represented at the forefront of every decision, every discussion and every campaign, and to get to know the members personally by attending as many sub branch meetings, events and Council meetings as possible.

When I became a Council delegate, Council meetings were held across Saturday and Sunday, the room was always full and discussions were lively.

The Hear Our Voice campaign of 2022-23 was a huge success, with thousands of members dressed in yellow joining rallies across the state to call for improved wages, reduced workloads and better conditions in Catholic systemic schools.

I was fortunate to address huge rallies of members, first at Sydney Town Hall on 27 May 2022, then outside NSW Parliament House on 30 June 2022. For the second rally, the IEU united with the NSW Teachers Federation for a huge march on Macquarie Street, preceded by interviews and a press conference at the ‘Tree of Knowledge’ behind NSW Parliament House.

These strikes and rallies were amazing to be part of and a way to support our members who were determined to have their voices heard.

The campaign was a huge testimony to collective action, with teachers in NSW achieving pay rises of 8% to 12% (11% to 19% in the ACT over three years), and support staff gaining increases of 6.5% to 20%.

I’ve been privileged to represent the IEU at Education International Congresses (the global federation of 383 education unions from 173 countries) in Brazil, Berlin, Bangkok, Cape Town and Ottowa, and women’s conferences in Bangkok and Morocco. I’ve also represented the IEU at the Council of Pacific Education in Fiji, which provides advice and assistance on professional, industrial, legal and human rights issues for teachers, support staff and their union affiliates in the Pacific region.

Independence Day celebrations in Timor Leste on 20 May 2002 were especially memorable. The then Deputy Secretary, Patrick Lee (see opposite page), with the assistance of IEU members, worked tirelessly with Sister Josephine Mitchell to fund and donate textbooks to the Mary MacKillop Institute of East Timorese Studies (established in 1994 to develop literacy and teacher education). This very worthwhile project contributed enormously to educating many students in Timor Leste.

International Women’s Day was always a highlight, providing a way to celebrate the achievements of women. Conferences for staff in early childhood education and care and school support staff were also a high priority and a good way to connect with members in these sectors.

My association with both Teachers Health and NGS Super over the years has also been a rewarding way to serve IEU members’ interests.

Mark Northam

Secretary, 2019–2023

In 2022, IEU members said “Enough is enough!” and took to the streets. Morale was low due to the artificial salary cap the NSW Liberal-National government had imposed on public sector staff for more than a decade. This wage suppression (maximum pay rise of 2.5% a year) included NSW government school teachers.

The link between NSW government teachers’ salaries and Catholic systemic teachers had never been so clear. Catholic employers would not budge from their long-held view of pay parity with government school teachers.

IEU members were deeply impacted by staff shortages driven by tight curriculum reform processes and shrinking numbers joining the teaching profession. Much effort was expended simply keeping schools operational at the expense of teachers and support staff.

Then came COVID. Members kept education afloat through their extraordinary goodwill. The teaching profession was under considerable pressure and replacing absent colleagues became a daily grind. Both the IEU and the NSW Teachers Federation were grappling with acute staff shortages, insufficient salaries and intensifying workloads.

Teachers and support staff were beyond despair that the government and employers were ignoring obvious problems. It was the job of their unions to drive meaningful change at a political level.

All this gave rise to the Hear Our Voice campaign. At its height, members in 581 Catholic systemic schools voted to take protected industrial action. They knew change was possible but only if they took their struggle to the streets. On 27 May 2022, thousands of IEU members rallied across NSW and the ACT to demand better pay and conditions.

From large gatherings in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong to Albury, Ballina, Tamworth, Wagga, Bathurst, Dubbo and everywhere in between, the message was serious but the mood was electric as members sang, chanted and played musical instruments.

An historic meeting of the IEU and the NSW Teachers Federation soon followed at which we agreed to take joint action. On 30 June 2022, IEU members assembled outside St Mary’s Cathedral before joining with their government school colleagues to flood Macquarie Street under the banner ‘Teachers United’, chanting ‘Hear our voice!’ and ‘More than thanks!’

The NSW Liberal-National government was bundled out in March 2023 and the incoming Minns Labor government finally agreed to a respectful pay deal that flowed on to strong gains in the Catholic systemic sector.

The numbers say it all: Catholic systemic teachers in NSW gained pay rises of 8% to 12% (11% to 19% over three years in the ACT between 2023 and 2025) and support staff achieved 6.5% to 20%.

Not only had our members attained these great outcomes, together with other unions, we had also smashed that salary cap.