Urgent update: Catholic systemic schools enterprise agreement
9 June 2022
URGENT UPDATE
Dear IEU Member
I am writing to update all members in Catholic systemic schools on the progress of the campaign for a new enterprise agreement. To date our employers have not addressed the key elements of our claim:
- pay teachers what they’re worth
- give support staff a fair deal
- let teachers teach – cut paperwork
- allow time to plan – reduce the teaching load by two hours per week
- end staffing shortages.
Members in 540 Catholic systemic schools participated in a historic IEU stop work on Friday 27 May. Our voices were heard across NSW and the ACT as support staff and teachers rallied for their profession. As well as stopping work, members in the 540 schools have been wearing their yellow campaign T-shirts/other yellow clothing, displaying the Hear Our Voice stickers, paddles and other campaign material.
Members in schools not included in the 540 schools
Members in some of the small number of schools not covered by the Protected Action Ballot have contacted the union seeking to participate in the protected action. This can only occur if a second Protected Action Ballot is conducted of members at these schools. If you have not already done so, please contact your Organiser TODAY if members at your school would like to be included in a second Protected Action Ballot.
Further action – where to next?
On Sunday 5 June, representatives from the IEU attended a Unions NSW wages summit of public sector unions at Trades Hall that rejected the 2.5% public sector wages cap.
On 6 June, the NSW Government announced a revised wages policy of a 3% pay increase for public sector workers in 2022/2023 and increases of up to 3.5%, subject to productivity in the year 2023/2024. However, the NSW Government’s revised wages policy has been rejected by public sector unions as it fails to stop the decline in real wages for public sector workers.
For teachers, the policy does nothing to address the unsustainable workload or staffing shortages. The revised wages cap continues to represent a real pay cut for teachers while maintaining workloads at unsustainable levels.
The NSW Government wages policy has a direct impact on our negotiations for teachers and support staff in Catholic systemic schools. This has been reiterated by Catholic employer representatives in all our bargaining meetings concerning a new enterprise agreement.
To this end, an urgent meeting of the IEU Executive has been called for Tuesday 14 June to determine an appropriate course of action.
The NSW Teachers Federation has advised that an urgent meeting of its Executive will also take place on 14 June.
The outcome of the simultaneous Executive meetings will be communicated to members.
Thank you for your support
Thank you for your continuing support of this campaign – please stay tuned for updates.
Regards
Mark Northam
Secretary
