From Mildura to Wantirna South, Sale to Echuca, Warragul to Heidelberg, IEU members are getting together to demand fair bargaining and a fair deal.

5:15

And that’s a wrap! What a great day, with impressive, colourful and imaginative actions by IEU members all around the state, despite the fact that our employers are still fighting to prevent us from taking industrial action.

Speaking of wraps - here’s our write-up of the day, take a look!

Congratulations to every single member who stood up today for a fair deal for Victorian Catholic education!

5:00

Check out this great reel featuring members at Killester College in Springvale talking about why they took action today.

4:50

More great media coverage of your actions today!

We particularly like this piece from the good people at Education HQ, this excellent article from the Border Mail, and this piece from Wangaratta featuring the voice of a strong IEU Rep.

4.25

More great pictures flooding in from around the state: IEU members at Borinya, Mother of God Ardeer, Saints College, St Joseph’s Springvale, Our Lady’s Sunshine, Iona College and Emmanuel College in Altona stood up today for a fair deal!

3:50

Members at Catherine McAuley College were very visible on the streets of Bendigo today…

3.40

The Magical Mystery Tour of the irrepressible IEU Mobile Billboard continued today, through Melbourne’s northern suburbs. Can you guess the location of the stop below? (Palm trees a clue?)

3.20

Even the pooches are on board at Notre Dame College Shepparton!

2.40

Afternoon gatherings are hitting the union office from all over the state, the latest from Trinity College Colac, Whitefriars College, Donvale and St Margaret’s Primary School, East Geelong. See more photos from across the state below.

2.10

The Border Mail has reported extensively on the plight of Wodonga Catholic College and IEU members generally in a great article just published.

“Members of the Catholic College Wodonga union group lined up their cars in the Bowman Circuit car park from 7.30am, writing liquid chalk messages on their windows asking for fair pay, working conditions and bargaining rights,” the article reads.

“The reason for the early morning start wasbecause unlike public schools, teacher Lisa Mason explained Victorian Catholic schools are the only teachers "in all of Australia that don't have the right to protected industrial action".

"This is all we can do, because we don't have the right to strike, like government schools can," the former sub-branch representative said.

"We can only wear our logos and do this before school starts, because once it turns 8.30am, we'll be in trouble if we are still doing this here."

1.50

Leongatha is representing loud and proud on more than one front today. This morning St Laurence O'Toole Primary School was in the spotlight (see below). This afternoon, members at Mary Mackillop Catholic Regional College gathered and spoke up.

1:05

In case you missed it, IEU members in Geelong kicked off their Day of Action early - here’s our wrap of yesterday’s actions and here’s the great yarn published in the Geelong Times!

12:50

Great pics coming in from all over the state!

Represented here are members from Sacred Heart Colac, Bethany Primary in Werribee, Holy Trinity Wantirna South, St Oliver Plunkett’s, Pascoe Vale, and St Patrick’s, Wangaratta, and Sacred Heart College, Kyneton

12:10 Genazzano College, Kew

Great to see that members at Genazzano have taken good care of a very vintage banner!

12:05

Some more great car-chalking pics coming in from around the state…

11:55 St John’s Footscray

Looks like a tasty IEU morning tea in Footscray!

11:50 Catholic College Wodonga

IEU members braved hostile weather to chalk up their cars with messages to their employer this morning - amazing work, hope you all managed to dry off after!

11:20

More pics coming in from the tour of our mobile billboard - doesn’t it look great!

10:00am, Sacred Heart College, Kyneton

9.00am, Catholic College, Wodonga

8.45am, St Ignatius College, Drysdale

“It’s important for us to acknowledge the work of our colleagues in the AEU that have taken action when we haven't been able to. We are also appreciative of parents and our wider school community in their support of teachers and education support staff to be able to achieve better working conditions so we can provide the best learning experiences for our students.” - Co-Rep Jaymi O’Connor

The St Ignatius throng also reported “lots of toots of support from school buses and cars driving past”.

8.35am Riverine Herald/St Joseph’s College, Echuca

The Riverine Herald is reporting the action taken at St Joseph’s College, Echuca, in an article titled, Catholic teachers taking a stand at the school gate:”

“The fences at St Joseph’s Echuca will be lined with black on Friday, May 29 — not for a protest, but for a plea.

Frustrated by stalled negotiations and legal barriers that prevent them from taking formal industrial action, Catholic educators across the state are making their voices heard in the only way they can.

“Beyond pay and conditions, the real fight is for a single interest agreement, which would allow Catholic educators across dioceses and organisations to negotiate collectively, rather than being fragmented.

“Current multi-employer bargaining laws prevent Catholic education union members from taking industrial action, with both employees and unions facing potential fines or penalties.

“Victoria is the only state in Australia where Catholic union members are excluded from the benefits of a single interest agreement, which facilitates more effective, collective bargaining.

Independent Education Union representative and St Joseph’s teacher Jerrod Davison will be one of many teachers wearing black and putting up signs around the campus fence line — but all before school.

He wants to see change in this sector and believes the only way to see that is collectively.

“‘We want the parent community to understand that we don't feel like we're being given the just hearing in our bargaining,’ he said.”

8.15am Marist-Sion College Warragul

We have an early contender for most vibrant pics of the day, coming in from Gippsland. Check out this crew at Marist-Sion College, Warragul. There’s a party going on!

“Great turnout… really great experience (for members) this morning, should help propel us forward.” - Rep David Walters

8.10am St Laurence O'Toole Primary School Leongatha

If Warragul was the most excited, perhaps Leongatha, just down the road, wins the prize for most creative action of the morning. Rep Margaret Gatehouse dressed as a coffee cup (made from a rubbish bin!) emblazoned with a QR code which took parents who scanned it to the petition calling on fair bargaining rights in Victorian Catholic education!

Our Organiser on the spot reports: “They also gave out coffees in cups with the QR code on them, and the coffee seller said that any leftover cups will be used at the local football game this weekend spreading the message further!”

8.10am St Andrew’s Primary School, Werribee

Members met outside the school gates at this western suburbs school to cheerfully and respectfully demand that the delays to negotiations end now!

Rep Shelley said members were “standing together for fair pay and better conditions!”

8.00am, Killester College, Springvale

A chanting, vibrant crowd of members has backed the right to strike, with Rep Chris Ruys affirming the union’s determination for single interest bargaining.

“We don’t have the right to strike… (which) every other teacher in the country, most workers have… And our employers don’t want to give us the right to strike because they don’t want us to have any sort of bargaining strength. And we need that strength to fight for better conditions and pay.” - Chris Ruys, Rep

Asked why he was taking part in the actions, first-year graduate Thomas Schofield said:

“I think we deserve the right for industrial action; we deserve the right to strike. Just getting the opportunity to fight for better conditions and better pay is something I want to be part of.”

Education Support staff member Kylie Lorimer said, “I’m out here to support all my fellow colleagues. We want fair pay and fair conditions from our employer and we deserve the right to strike.”

8am, Our Lady of Mercy College Heidelberg

Speaking at the joint rally of Our Lady of Mercy College and St John’s School, Heidelberg, IEU General Secretary David Brear said, “We're here to send a message to the 34 Catholic employers across Victorian Catholic education and the message is: we won't be settling for a second rate deal”.

David asked members if they wanted the right to take industrial action and he was met with an overwhelming YES!

“The employer has our Log of Claims. So far, of the 113 claims we have put forward for much needed improvements, the employers have said no to 100 of them.
So I just think it's really important for days like today the employers know this is going on. They're gonna see you out here loud and proud today. It's really important that people get together in their Union. They stand up and they say look we demand a reasonable offer. We demand fair pay.
It's not just about us. It's about everyone who works in our schools. It's also about the next generation of people who come into schools. We deeply care about education. We deeply care about Catholic education and we know that we need good wages and conditions for the job to be sustainable and that's really what this is all about.
It's about us. It's about our legacy as educators going forward.”
- David Brear, IEU General Secretary.

7:50am

We’re kicking off our coverage of today’s Day of Action across Victorian Catholic schools, as staff call for a fair deal, for genuine bargaining rights and for the VCEA to negotiate genuine, badly-needed improvements to conditions instead of seeking to claw back hard-fought wins from previous campaigns.

Stay tuned - and you can send through any pictures, stories or anecdotes from around the state to comms@ieuvictas.org.au

Good luck today!