Victorian Catholic employers refuse key improvements and push for backwards steps
Catholic education employers are continuing to resist key improvements to pay and conditions while pursuing changes that could leave staff worse off, making it imperative that IEU members continue to stand firm.
Employers have now rejected around 100 of the union’s 113 claims, with little meaningful movement since their previous offer.
They have also refused to provide key information, including policies, procedures and data, that would assist the bargaining process.
At a time when government school staff are securing significant improvements to pay and working conditions, Catholic sector employees are being forced to fight to protect conditions they already have.
The IEU continues to maintain claims aimed at ensuring Catholic sector employees are no worse off than their government sector counterparts, and no worse off than what the Victorian Catholic Education Authority (VCEA) was prepared to offer last year. These claims include 20 weeks’ paid parental leave and important classification improvements, including for education support staff.
Several major issues remain unresolved.
Pay packages: Employers remain vague about wages and conditions. While the government schools proposal includes improved allowances, better classification structures and substantial wage increases, Catholic employers have not confirmed which measures they will match. They have also refused to commit to continuing the 1 per cent position allowance or introducing the government sector’s new ES allowance.
Time in lieu and camp allowances: Employers are resisting attempts to improve TIL arrangements and want to retain the practice of “banking” TIL. They are also refusing to match proposed government sector camp allowances, worth up to $740 for a top-of-scale teacher and $545 for a government ES employee.
Professional practice days: Employers have so far refused to confirm they will match the proposed government sector model of four professional practice days a year, in addition to eight student-free days.
Workload: Employers are attempting to claw back parts of the 30+8 model by increasing directed time for “collaboration” and removing secondary assemblies from scheduled class time.
Attendance on site: Employer-proposed wording changes would make it harder for teachers to leave school grounds during the day by limiting this to “appropriate circumstances”.
Technical reductions to pay and conditions: Employers are pursuing changes to increment dates, leave formulas and FTE rounding that could reduce employee entitlements.
Union rights: Employers are refusing to match union rights available in government schools and do not even want union representatives speaking to new staff during inductions.
Additional concerns have also emerged in specialist schools, where employers want to increase scheduled class time to primary school levels regardless of year level, while removing limits on meetings held outside the school day.
The employers’ approach has made one thing clear: meaningful improvements will only be won if members continue standing together and demonstrating collective strength in the campaign for a fair Agreement that protects pay and conditions from going backwards.
