Victorian Catholic budget pressures – and your Agreement protections

‍The release of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools’ (MACS) Operational Guidelines for 2027 school budgets, together with similar budget and staffing discussions emerging elsewhere in Victorian Catholic education, has prompted understandable concern among IEU members about staffing, workloads and possible workplace change.

‍The MACS guidelines have brought the issue into particularly sharp focus. They ask schools to consider a range of workforce and operational measures, including recruitment restrictions, larger average class sizes, maximum teacher scheduled class time, reviews of leadership and LSO structures, possible reductions in part-time hours, and changes to programs and service delivery.

‍But this is not confined to one document by one employer. Across Victorian Catholic education, employers and schools are now planning for 2027. That means questions about budgets, staffing structures and how work is organised are likely to arise in different forms across the sector.

‍The circumstances will vary from school to school – but critically, the industrial protections available to IEU members do not disappear because an employer is under budget pressure.

‍Pressures are real, but outcomes are not predetermined

‍The IEU has already met with many school leaders who believe they can manage their budgets through normal staff movement, vacancies and careful planning.

‍That is important. A budget process does not automatically mean jobs must disappear, hours must be cut or classes must become larger.

‍At the same time, we know that in some settings more significant staffing and workplace changes are being canvassed. Where that occurs, members are entitled to understand what is being proposed, why it is being proposed and what alternatives have been considered.

‍That is why the union’s message to members and principals has been consistent: do not treat an employer proposal as an inevitable outcome.

‍Employer budget decisions sit within – not above – the industrial protections members have negotiated.

‍Fair wages and properly resourced schools are not competing objectives

‍The timing of these discussions also matters.

‍Victorian Catholic education employers have known for a considerable period that a competitive wages outcome would be needed to attract and retain staff.

‍It would be wrong to suggest that employees now have to choose between fair wages on the one hand and secure jobs, manageable workloads and properly resourced schools on the other.

‍The MACS Operational Guidelines are an employer approach to budgeting – not proof that cuts are required to deliver fair wages.

‍Catholic education employers interstate have already implemented substantial salary increases without the widespread school-level disruption now being canvassed in parts of Victoria.

‍Schools will always need to operate within budgets. The real question is how employers plan, prioritise resources and manage change, and whether employees are given a genuine voice in those decisions.

Your Agreement protects you

‍This is where the protections contained in our Victorian Catholic Agreements become particularly important.

Hours of work

‍For part-time employees, hours cannot simply be reduced because doing so would make a budget easier to balance. Unless agreed by the employee, a proposed reduction must have a proper basis, consultation, notice and other Agreement protections apply, and the personal impact of the proposed change must be genuinely considered.

‍Members should be especially cautious about being asked to “agree” to reduced hours.

‍If you are asked to sign anything changing your hours or employment arrangements, contact the IEU first.

Class sizes

‍Agreement provisions require schools to consider educational needs, workload, available support, facilities, health and safety and local circumstances when structuring classes – and require schools to plan for the minimum class sizes possible given available resources and facilities.

‍Maximum class sizes are ceilings, not targets.

Teacher workloads

‍While teacher scheduled class time is also regulated, maximising classroom hours does not make the rest of a teacher’s job disappear.

‍Preparation, assessment, collaboration, student support and the overall workload still have to be performed. The fact that an Agreement establishes a maximum scheduled class time does not remove the requirement for workloads to remain fair and reasonable.

Consultation has to mean something

‍Perhaps the most important practical protection for members as 2027 planning develops is the role of the Consultative Committee, as set out in your legally binding Agreement.

‍A Consultative Committee is not a forum where employees are told what has already been decided.

‍Meaningful consultation requires employees and their representatives to receive relevant information, have sufficient time to consider it, discuss the consequences with colleagues and put forward informed views before decisions are implemented.

‍That is especially important when schools are considering matters such as:

• class sizes and class structures;

• scheduled class time and teacher workload;

• staffing changes and their workload consequences;

• Positions of Leadership and leadership structures; and

• the impact of proposed changes on educational provision and employees.

‍A functioning Consultative Committee can make a genuine difference.

‍It can test whether a proposal is actually necessary, identify unintended workload or educational consequences, put alternatives on the table and ensure employees’ views are formally considered.

‍The IEU will shortly be providing dedicated training for Consultative Committee representatives so they are equipped to use these rights effectively as 2027 planning progresses.

‍If your Consultative Committee is not meeting, is not being provided with the information it needs, or changes appear to be progressing before genuine consultation has occurred, contact your IEU organiser.

Principals should not be left carrying system decisions

‍These processes can also put principals in an extremely difficult position.

Principals are employees as well as school leaders. They are often the people required to explain and manage decisions locally, even where the financial settings or expectations have been determined elsewhere.

The IEU is working closely with principal members and has been surveying them about the likely effects of proposed changes on staffing, programs, leadership capacity, workload and their school communities. That feedback is informing the union’s representations and the practical support being provided to principals.

Principals should not be expected to carry the reputational consequences of system-level decisions alone.

Nor should workplace concerns be allowed to turn employees and principals against one another when the underlying decisions have been made elsewhere.

Why this matters for our SIA campaign

There is a broader lesson in all of this.

The rights members are relying on now – consultation, workload protections, protections around hours and employment, and a meaningful voice through workplace representatives – exist because employees have bargained collectively for them.

They are not automatic.

And when major employers are making decisions that can affect staffing, workloads, class structures and educational provision across hundreds of workplaces, employees need bargaining arrangements capable of dealing with those issues collectively too.

That is why the IEU’s campaign for single-interest bargaining across Victorian Catholic education is so important.

Members should be able to bargain together for fair wages and conditions, and to build strong, enforceable protections that apply across the sector.

The current budget debate is a practical reminder of what those protections are worth.

If your workplace is part of the current Petition of Support campaign and you have not yet signed, add your support for fair bargaining rights today.

‍Different employers and schools may face different circumstances in 2027. What is most important is that change is managed fairly, that genuine consultation occurs, and that IEU members seek advice and support where needed. We are far better placed to navigate these challenges collectively than individually.