Victorian Catholic bargaining: Ramping up the pressure in Term 2
Winning fair bargaining rights in the face of employer intransigence takes a two-pronged strategy – the legal fight in the Commission and campaigning in our schools.
While the legal teams battle it out, it’s critical that IEU members in Victorian Catholic schools step up their actions to put pressure on for fair bargaining rights and a deal that delivers significant pay rises and addresses staff workloads and wellbeing.
Key points:
Term 2: members to escalate lawful action, build pressure
SIA application delayed by employer: FWC hearing now mid-June
Bargaining stalled: no response to IEU claims; VCEA attended 1 meeting in 7 weeks
In a message to members on Tuesday, the union congratulated the thousands who participated in Term 1 actions, especially displays of solidarity with striking colleagues in state schools on 24 March.
The IEU says members in Catholic schools took the fight for fair bargaining rights “up to the next level” and Term 2 will be “pivotal”.
“Employers have made it clear that they would rather spend their time, money and resources on fighting to deny you your rights than on working with us to make Catholic schools better places to work and to learn, and we need to ramp up our campaign to show that we will not let them get away with it.”
It takes sustained action and patience to secure improved wages, rights, and conditions to deal with employers who constantly delay negotiations, as in Victorian Catholic education.
Passion must be matched with persistence. Members in Victorian Catholic schools are being urged to escalate lawful, collective action to address the employers’ ongoing delays in bargaining and refusal to properly engage with claims.
Members are being encouraged join online member briefings which will outline the current status of the campaign and detail the actions the union will take in Term 2.
Join us online at 4.30pm on Tuesday 28 April or at 5pm on Wednesday 29 April via this link.
The first member action of the term, inspired by the strong response on 24 March, begins this week, with members urged to participate in Wear It Black Fridays starting this Friday and continuing throughout the term. If the VCEA does not review its position within the first two weeks of term, escalating member activities are planned.
IEU Secretary General David Brear told members, “This is the time to stay strong and united. Your efforts have had a huge impact already, and we need to keep the pressure on employers and show that we simply will not accept second-rate rights, salaries or conditions!”
SIA application
The Fair Work Commission case continues after several delays caused by employers. Employers submitted inflated staff numbers, later admitting thousands ought not have been included, impeding efforts to show majority support for SIA. These delays have been compounded by the VCEA claiming its systems are so poor it would take weeks to compile simple employee data for checking.
Finally, their filing to the Fair Work Commission explaining their opposition to the SIA application run to 2600 pages!
In US politics and old Hollywood movies, this is known as a filibuster: “a tactic of delaying or blocking a decision by prolonging debate or proceedings.” It’s pure time wasting. It also wastes huge amounts of money on lawyers at a time when many Catholic schools are struggling to get money for fundamental maintenance problems.
In the coming weeks, the employment data ordered by the Fair Work Commission to be provided by the VCEA will be closely examined by the IEU’s external lawyers, with the full-week hearing now scheduled for June.
The employers have shown they will delay and obstruct the SIA application by any means, despite the majority of staff supporting a SIA with signed statements of support late last year.
Members are being urged to stay the course, and combat delays with renewed collective solidarity.
Herald Sun reports on the campaign
The Herald Sun has characterised educator bargaining as a statewide issue in Victoria, not a phenomenon restricted to the state sector.
While its article, published Monday, begins with developments in independent schools – where IEU members are increasingly saying no to sub-standard offers – it also includes extensive coverage of the issues in Catholic bargaining.
The article quotes VCEA Chief Executive Professor Elizabeth Labone expressing her preference for the current ‘cooperative’ bargaining framework. That is the same approach that has produced delay-riddled negotiations, with previous agreements often concluded years past expiry.
Members haven’t forgotten that VCEA attempted to bypass proper bargaining last year by putting forward an offer with a pay rise which will be far below the eventual outcome, and no mention of key conditions. Staff convincingly voted that offer down, showing clear determination to secure fair pay and conditions, not what employers choose to impose.
Since then, employers have indulged every type of delay imaginable in the SIA process and have turned up only once in seven weeks for bargaining discussions.
David Brear told the Herald Sun staff would “fight hard to secure the improvements to pay and conditions they need and deserve”.
“They will ramp up their campaigning in term two to make it clear they should not be the only group of education workers in the country without full and fair bargaining rights,” he said.
