Catholic Employers’ Opportunistic Position In Modern Award

In an extraordinary opportunistic move, national Catholic employers are proposing a longer school year for staff, reductions in conditions and entitlements and for some workers in the schools sector to go ‘award free’.

Over the last 12 months the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) has been undertaking work across all industries to create ‘modern national awards’.

On 22 May ‘exposure drafts’ for the school sector were released by the AIRC. Much of the content in the exposure drafts has already been the subject of extensive discussion and agreement between the IEU and the Associations of Independent Schools (AIS).

In contrast, the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) did not in any meaningful way seek to discuss, nor reach agreement on, the content of these draft awards with the IEU or the AIS while they were being developed.

As modern awards only apply to employees where an agreement is not operating and if the school is in the federal system, the modern awards will apply to very few, if any, employees in Catholic schools in Australia.

However, the modern awards will regulate and change the conditions of employment for a significant number of employees nationally in Independent schools.

Even though the awards will not operate in Catholic schools, the NCEC proposes cuts to conditions for employees in Independent schools.

According to their submission in response to the draft awards, the NCEC wants the AIRC to:

•    make Catholic Education Office staff, principals and deputy principals award free – no protection for these people of a safety net award

•    increase the maximum number of school days from 205 to 210

•    remove provisions requiring teachers with more than a 90% load to be classified and paid as full-time

•    remove award content in its entirety that would otherwise provide some limits on the employment of fixed term teachers

•    remove the requirement to advise full-time employees of their face-to-face teaching load when they commence employment

•    remove rights for part-time employees to access redundancy when their load is reduced by more than 25%

•    remove the right to full accrual of leave entitlements for ‘averaged’ employees

This is an extraordinary attack on the minimum conditions that would prevail under the new modern awards.

Given that these awards will not apply to staff in Catholic schools, one has to question why the NCEC believes it necessary to undermine the rights and entitlements of workers in other schools.

School reps are asked to call meetings of members to consider this unjust position put by the National Catholic Education Commission.

For further information visit the IEUA website: www.ieu.org.au

This article appears in the August edition of Newsmonth. Members can read IEU publications online at www.ieu.asn.au/publications.html. Or subscribe at www.ieu.asn.au/subscribe.html.