Achieving better leave provisions in independent schools
IEU members have steadily improved annual leave for general staff through organisation, strong sub-branches and persistent enterprise bargaining.
For general staff, also known as professional services staff, the Educational Services (General Staff) Award and National Employment Standards safety net provides four weeks of paid annual leave each year. This is an important entitlement, but it is a legal minimum, not the limit of what members can collectively achieve.
Over many bargaining rounds, IEU Organisers have worked alongside members and sub-branches to identify priorities, develop claims and negotiate better outcomes. Annual leave has remained a core claim because adequate time away from work supports health, wellbeing and recovery, and recognises the growing complexity and intensity of general staff work.
The first improvements often came through additional paid days that did not reduce employees’ annual leave balances. These included days during the Christmas shutdown and the working day before the Melbourne Cup public holiday. The principle was important: staff should not have to use their own annual leave simply because the school closes.
Members then built on those gains. In many schools, IEU sub-branches achieved five weeks of annual leave and established this as a new industry standard. Further bargaining delivered six weeks in a growing number of schools.
This progress didn’t happen automatically. These are victories won by members who set clear priorities, stayed organised and supported their bargaining representatives. IEU Organisers bring bargaining experience and sector knowledge, but the strength of every claim comes from active, united members in the workplace.
Schools that agree to improved annual leave provisions send a clear message that they value the contribution of their general staff.
Stronger leave entitlements also help schools attract and retain skilled employees in a competitive labour market. They provide a practical point of difference for employers seeking experienced professionals across administration, finance, information technology, student services, laboratories, libraries, grounds, maintenance and other essential areas.
Of course an increased entitlement to annual leave means that those staff who do not work during school holiday periods have to ‘purchase’ less leave in order to have that time off.
The value of an improved entitlement depends on it being enforceable. Recording these conditions clearly in an Agreement protects them from unilateral policy changes and gives employees a legally enforceable workplace right.
It also ensures that improvements won in one bargaining round provide a foundation for the next.
Improving leave provisions for general staff remains a core IEU claim in enterprise bargaining. The objective is to protect existing gains, extend better standards to more workplaces and keep raising expectations across the sector.
The Award provides the floor. Collective bargaining gives IEU members the power to build on it.
