When employers ignore the union

When an employer suddenly sidelines union Reps during negotiations, it is unlikely to expedite negotiations with staff.

So it proved for Christian Schools Tasmania (CST), which comprises four schools: Calvin Christian School, Channel Christian School, Emmanuel Christian School and Northern Christian School.

Two enterprise agreements cover our members in these schools.

In the latest round of bargaining, negotiations began normally, with a number of meetings giving IEU Reps an opportunity to discuss Log of Claim items.

At a certain point, however, the employer decided to stop consulting. Despite employee Reps and the union wanting to continue discussions, the employer decided that further meetings would be run by them within schools rather than as genuine formal bargaining meetings with Reps.

While the employer argued that this was business as usual, staff Reps and the union were disappointed that there was no further opportunity to improve the Agreement.

Worryingly, provisions covering things like Consultative Committees, which had been agreed at the bargaining table, were dropped during the employer’s in-school meetings. The employer also added an extra day of attendance for teachers, despite this never having been raised during negotiations.

Because of the bargaining process and the overall result, the IEU could not recommend that members vote in favour of the new Agreement.

Accordingly, teachers voted to reject it.

General Staff voted in favour of their Agreement, but the Yes vote for that cohort fell from more than 90 per cent under the previous Agreement to just over 50 per cent.

Following the vote, the IEU became aware that voting on the General Staff Agreement had been extended by several hours to allow more staff to vote. As the employer had not disclosed the extension in its paperwork to the Fair Work Commission (FWC), the union raised the omission with the FWC, leading to a conciliation meeting at the Commission.

While the extension had no impact on the final Yes vote, it added to the concerns surrounding the bargaining and voting process.

Following their No vote, teachers returned to the bargaining table at the start of 2026 and successfully negotiated improvements to the final Agreement, including a higher wage safeguard that will apply if the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rises.

Consultative Committee provisions were also restored.

At the bargaining table, IEU Reps strongly advocated for the improved CPI safeguard to be applied to General Staff outside their Agreement. The understanding was that this would be taken to the Board, with employer Reps indicating their support.

However, the Director and CST said no to extending the measure to General Staff.

Senior IEU staff visited CST schools during the final week of Term 2 to discuss these matters with members, including the possibility of collective action if the CPI safeguard is triggered for teachers.