IEU amends Single Interest Authorisation application: what it means for Victorian Catholic staff
The IEU has amended its application to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for a Single Interest Authorisation (SIA) covering Victorian Catholic education employers.
The application that will be heard by the FWC in late June now includes 25 employers: the 24 employers at which an independent ballot agent had already established clear majority support for an SIA, together with Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS).
Importantly, our objective is unchanged: a single Agreement, with the fair pay and conditions members need, covering all of Victorian Catholic education. The amended application is the quickest pathway currently available to achieve that outcome.
Employers have repeatedly claimed that they share the goal of a one Agreement covering the sector. There is one simple way that they could achieve this – by agreeing to fair bargaining rights for their staff under an SIA. They could have agreed to this a year ago when we first asked, and they could agree now, saving everyone the costs, time and lost goodwill that come from this extended legal process.
Why doesn’t the application cover all employers?
The short answer is that employer data has become a major obstacle.
The Fair Work Commission required employers to provide employee information to assist in determining whether a majority of employees support bargaining under a SIA. However, the data provided by many employers contains significant problems.
These include:
Large numbers of duplicate employee records
Missing or inaccurate contact details
Casual employees with unclear employment status or dates of engagement
Apparent inconsistencies with publicly available information regarding staffing levels
As a result, the further work it would take to prove to the Fair Work Commission that we have majority support at these employers would take time, enough to delay the hearing and obtaining a SIA.
Importantly, this does not mean majority support does not exist.
The IEU firmly believes that with accurate and reliable workforce information it would be possible to demonstrate majority support at the remaining employers.
However, the union faced a choice:
Continue lengthy disputes about workforce information and delay progress; or
Proceed with the strongest possible application now and continue pursuing the remaining employers afterwards.
The IEU has chosen the second option because it provides the fastest pathway to an SIA, that other employers could then be joined to.
Which employers are included?
The application now covers the original 24 employers where majority support had already been established by the independent ballot agent, together with MACS:
Antonine College
Catholic Ladies College
Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Ltd
Edmund Rice Education Australia
FCJ College Benalla
Genazzano FCJ College
Jesuit Social Services
Kildare Ministries
Loreto Ballarat
Marist Schools Australia
Mater Christi College
Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools
Mercy Education
Monivae College
Mount St Joseph Girls' College
Our Lady of Sion College
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College
Sacre Coeur
Salesian College Chadstone
Salesian College Sunbury
Santa Maria College
St Columba's College
Star of the Sea College
Villa Maria Catholic Homes
Whitefriars College
What happens to the other employers?
Employers can be joined to a SIA that has been granted, while negotiations are underway. They can also be joined to an Agreement that has been made under a SIA.
The IEU’s intention is to move as quickly as possible to apply to the Fair Work Commission to join every remaining employer to a SIA.
If negotiations for the Agreement come under a SIA, joining the other employers will be the only realistic and timely way to ensure a single Agreement for the whole sector. That is because employers bound by a SIA can only make a single interest agreement for 12 months.
Does this change the goal of one Agreement?
Absolutely not. The IEU's objective remains exactly the same as it was at the start of this campaign: one Agreement covering Victorian Catholic education that delivers the fair pay and conditions members need.
In fact, when we made the original SIA application,we were clear about the union's intention to continue adding employers in order to secure bargaining for a single Agreement covering all Victorian Catholic education staff.
The amended application is a step towards achieving our goal.
If the Fair Work Commission grants an SIA, the IEU intends to move as quickly as possible to have the remaining employers joined.
What next?
The Fair Work Commission hearing is scheduled for 16-26 June.
Following the hearing, the Commission will determine whether to grant a Single Interest Authorisation covering the employers in the amended application. A decision may take a number of weeks.
If an SIA is granted, the union's immediate focus will be:
Commencing bargaining with the full rights available under an SIA;
Pursuing the inclusion of remaining Victorian Catholic employers; and
Continuing the campaign for a single Agreement covering the sector.
IEU members are making history!
This campaign is one of the first major tests of Australia's new multi-employer bargaining laws. While these reforms have created important opportunities for workers, the IEU's experience has also highlighted practical shortcomings in the legislation.
The union will continue advocating for improvements to ensure workers can access bargaining rights without unnecessary delay or procedural barriers.
None of this progress has happened by accident.
Members have worked incredibly hard to build support for fair bargaining rights.
From collecting around 19,000 Statements of Support, to workplace conversations, to school-based organising, to the recent Day of Action, members have built one of the largest industrial campaigns ever undertaken in Victorian Catholic education.
The hearing in June is another important milestone, but it is not the finish line.
The strength, determination and solidarity shown by members across the state remains the key to winning the fair pay, manageable workloads and improved conditions that staff deserve.
