IEU Catholic Council provides campaign pointers
On Saturday 24 May, Victorian Catholic school Reps, staff, and members of the Committee of Management gathered at union headquarters in South Melbourne to perform a crucial democratic function of the union.
Participants at IEU Council
While usually Catholic and Independent Councils are held together, this Council was focused on the Victorian Catholic campaign, with Independent Council to be held separately to discuss important developments in that sector.
Council is how the union ensures its work stays relevant and responsive to members. Reports are shared, campaigns and strategies discussed, and union staff are held accountable to their real bosses – the members.
General Secretary David Brear and Deputy General Secretary Kylie Busk opened the day with an overview of union activity across sectors, including engagement with key stakeholders, membership and staffing figures, and recent wins.
They outlined major outcomes of the recent strategic review, including the union’s ‘most significant structural changes in 30 years’ which led to the introduction of the Member Services Unit (MSU) – a central hub for member support handling everything from basic leave queries to complex conduct matters.
The MSU allows Organisers to shift focus from individual servicing to broader goals like building collective strength in sub-branches, running campaigns, and leading bargaining efforts in independent schools – all core aims of the strategic plan.
The leadership team then turned to the Victorian Catholic school campaign, presenting results from our recent member survey. It was noted that members are ready for industrial action if necessary, with particular enthusiasm from members under 35 – a comment that sparked audible excitement in the room.
While all this reporting back was valuable, the most important words were still to come.
Workshopping the way forward
After the morning tea break – a lively hubbub of educators swapping ideas and war stories, almost as valuable as the formal sessions – David opened the second half by saying, ‘You have the lived experience in schools; we want to hear your thoughts…’
Members weren’t there to be passive spectators. Union staff would now listen and take notes.
Members spent the remainder of Council workshopping practical solutions – not just listing problems – to low pay, increasing workloads, and safety challenges. Each table tackled these topics and generated a total of 99 specific ideas.
Some key guiding principles emerged from this work, as attendees told us (amongst many other things) that we need workplaces in which work which can be done during school hours is done during school hours, and work which can be done by someone other than a teacher is done by someone other than a teacher.
Comic relief was provided by eight members who were randomly selected to role-play employer responses to some of the member claims. Everyone in the room had heard Catholic employers justify poor conditions by calling teaching a ‘vocation,’ dismiss class size concerns as a ‘skill issue,’ or reject special needs funding claims as ‘discriminatory,’ and our ‘devil’s advocates’ channelled such sentiments in a vivid and very entertaining manner.
As David noted, none of the Catholic employer representatives at the bargaining table last round had worked in a school – and it showed. That’s why the input from frontline staff at Council is a precious resource. The suggestions captured on the day will help shape the union’s next Log of Claims.
Council concluded with a clear message from union leadership: ‘Go back to your workplaces, talk to members, get their feedback. No one joins a union they can’t see. And if we don’t know about it, it won’t be made as a claim.’
But there was no way that roomful of members at IEU Council would be ignored in their workplaces! Here was the heart of the union, committed, upbeat, constructive, making themselves heard and striving to improve the working lives of all IEU members.