Above (and on the big screen): NSW/ACT Branch Secretary
Carol Matthews addresses the Congress with, from left, ACTU Assistant Secretaries Joseph Mitchell and Liam O’Brien,
Secretary Sally McManus and President Michele O’Neil.
More than 1000 delegates from every union and industry in Australia gathered in Adelaide from 4 June to 6 June for the 2024 Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Congress, the Australian union movement’s decision-making forum.
Billed as a “parliament for working people”, the ACTU Congress, held every three years, is how unions come together to debate and vote on policies that impact Australian working people and their families, build solidarity, and set the agenda and priorities for the next three years.
The themes for the 2024 Congress were the growth of the union movement to win for workers, action on climate change, plus technological advances and its challenges. Because of the pandemic, this year’s event was the first in-person Congress since 2018.
Priorities discussed included shorter working hours, five weeks’ annual leave, and regulating artificial Intelligence due to the challenges it poses to Australian workers. Decisions made at the ACTU Congress can also inform Labor’s policies.
IEUA Federal Secretary Brad Hayes speaks at the ACTU
Congress with IEU member and preschool teacher-director Janene Rox.
The ACTU leadership team of President Michele O’Neil, Secretary Sally McManus, Assistant Secretary Liam O’Brien and Assistant Secretary Joseph Mitchell were re-elected unopposed.
“Australian unions should be proud of the victories we’ve won for working families over the last couple of years – from achieving historic increases in award and minimum wages, to closing loopholes that big businesses exploit to drive down wages and conditions, to banning engineered stone and saving thousands of lives,” the team said in a statement.
“These wins demonstrate the power of collective action, and we will build on these victories to achieve even more in the coming years.”
The IEU was represented by delegates including Federal Secretary Brad Hayes, NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews, NSW/ACT Branch Deputy Secretary David Towson, IEU member and early childhood teacher Janene Rox, as well as elected officials and representatives from IEU branches across Australia.
The Congress opened with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Forum on 4 June, which was attended by members of the IEU’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee (read article).
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the Congress dinner, describing it as “one of the honours of my life”. He thanked union members for their hard work in campaigning for secure jobs, better pay, paid family and domestic violence leave, and stronger rights for casual and gig workers.
Albanese recognised the work of those who “teach our youngest Australians” and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to a pay rise for staff in the long day care sector, many of whom are IEU members.
“Now that the Fair Work Commission has outlined a clear way forward on gender-based wage increases, our government will move quickly to deliver on the commitment we made in last month’s budget: an overdue pay rise for workers in early childhood education,” Albanese said.
IEU delegates also addressed Congress, with NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews, Federal Secretary Brad Hayes and member Janene Rox all delivering speeches.
Calling for fairer anti-discrimination laws
IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews called on state and federal Labor governments to introduce proposed changes to anti-discrimination laws in line with modern community standards (read article).
Before the 2022 federal election, Labor committed to protecting teachers from discrimination at work, while maintaining the right of religious schools to preference people of their faith when selecting staff. Labor also promised to protect all students from discrimination on any grounds.
Currently, exemptions apply for religious schools under the federal Sex Discrimination Act in relation to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy if the schools claim they are discriminating in accordance with the beliefs of that religion.
The NSW Anti-Discrimination Act allows private educational authorities to discriminate against people on the basis of their sex, disability, sexual orientation, transgender identity or marital or domestic status.
The IEU is calling for these exemptions to be scrapped. “They have deeply detrimental impacts on our members’ lives,” Matthews said.
“Our members in faith-based schools are committed to their school’s faith, but this does not mean every aspect of their lives accords with every religious rule. Of course, some of our members are gay, some are divorced, use contraception, have sex before marriage, or access fertility treatments.
“Yet some have shared heartbreaking stories with us of the resulting discrimination they’ve experienced in the workplace, while others live in fear of unjust consequences.
“Religious schools can still thrive without the need to discriminate, and employers have nothing to fear from modern community standards,” Matthews said.
Using new bargaining rights for better deals
Federal Secretary Brad Hayes addressed the Congress on how new multi-employer bargaining rights affect union members.
The IEU negotiates over 800 separate agreements across Australia every year and is interested in bargaining in a “smarter, more efficient and strategic way”, he said.
Hayes said that while single-site bargaining has led to many wins, it spreads unions thin, leaving too little time for organising.
“A new approach is needed,” he said. In the past, it wasn’t possible for members to take action for a multi-employer agreement (MEA). “Negotiations dragged on for years, as members were denied the right to strike, and employers could simply reject and delay.”
But now, through new industrial relations laws passed over the past two years, negotiations for the first Supported Bargaining Agreement are under way incorporating the IEU, the Australian Education Union and United Workers Union, covering 64 employers in the long day care sector. Once finalised, it will provide 10,000 workers with their first collective agreement.
“And as we speak, our WA and NSW Branches are pursuing new multi-employer deals in the Catholic and independent school sectors,” Hayes said.
“Multi-employer bargaining gives us the power to prioritise growth. We can consolidate resources to sharpen our focus on a smaller number of targeted negotiations.”
After raising the importance of new delegates’ rights, Hayes introduced “the star of the show”, IEU member Janene Rox, whom he thanked for “skipping class to be here”.
Lifting pay in early childhood education
Sydney preschool teacher-director and IEU member Janene Rox spoke about the challenges the ECEC sector faces and thanked ACTU Secretary Sally McManus for acknowledging the sector in her address to Congress.
Rox, who works at Cronulla Preschool, said strong agreements were needed in every preschool and early childhood education centre. With the IEU’s support, these new agreements were possible, she said.
“As well as the Supported Bargaining Agreement that will be finalised soon for thousands of federally funded early years educators, my union has launched our ‘Unite for Change’ campaign for preschool teachers left behind under the old broken bargaining system,” Rox said (read article).
“We will use the new multi-employer process to win pay rises for teachers working across dozens of community preschools.
Rox called attention to the pay gap between preschool teachers and their colleagues who teach in primary school, with some “copping a $30,000 pay cut compared to what they can earn doing the same job in a primary school”.
She called for respect and fair pay for all educators, saying that if we don’t confront these problems head on, staff shortages in education will only worsen.
