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Fortnightly discussions between the IEU representatives and the employers continue to be positive and productive but have taken longer than both parties had initially hoped, largely due to the number of technical and drafting changes that have been necessary this time around, to make the EA document more compliant and user friendly.

The employers are looking to provide “enhanced and supportive employment conditions, leading to improved student outcomes, while remaining fiscally prudent and ensuring broad access to a Catholic education”.

The IEU is looking to codify conditions which are industrially fair, safe and the best use of an employee’s time. We have provided a revised teacher workload model and other proposals.

The employers have proposed a model which includes decreasing student contact time, OPA and CEA with flexibility between components. They also propose a salary structure that aligns with the Professional Standards including increased allowances for HAT and Lead Teachers and a salary increase that is reflective of Department for Education (DfE).

We are in the process of working through these issues to reach clarity around implementation. All offers and proposals on the table are provisional “Without Prejudice” and not locked in until the final voting. Any offer can be withdrawn at any time.

The main interests that we are working towards for an ‘in principal agreement’ are teacher workload, ESO casual conditions, salary increases and teacher pay structure.

There are many changes being discussed which are of a technical nature which remove ambiguity and may provide minor improvements or affect only small numbers of employees. We will not unpack these here.

The IEU has proposed (amongst many other incidental items)

1. Market wages as referenced against the DfE rates.
2. ESO casual rates increased from 20% to 25% as per industry standards.
3. Reductions in teacher workload, relief lessons and class sizes, with a degree of flexibility between components.
4. Increase in payment rate for CEA activities from $25 to $32.
5. Paid Pandemic Leave – 10 days.
6. Paid Domestic & Family Violence Leave – 10 days.
7. Paid Parental Leave for either partner, and an increase from 14 weeks to 16.
8. Clarification of two-term performance review process for teachers.
9. Reductions in wages withheld for short-notice by agreement and capped at 2 weeks for teachers and 1 week for ESOs.
10. Reviews of Disciplinary Procedure, Incapacity Clause, Partial Redundancy wording.

The Employers have provisionally offered:

1. Salary and allowance increase of 2.35% from May 2021 and from May 2022 – provisional upon EA agreement being reached expeditiously. Whilst 2.35% for the Department is a little higher than currently being achieved in other schools, the Catholic sector fell behind whilst DfE increases were being negotiated and other schools pushed ahead.
2. Contact time reduced by 40 hours from the current caps when averaged across the year via school-directed non-contact time – current weekly caps remain unchanged – contact time averaged across the year. The time reductions would be used for other undefined purposes but wording is illusive.
3. Contact time for teachers in technical colleges reduced from 22.5 hours to 21.5 hours averaged across 42 weeks as per current.
4. Workload reductions of up to 34 hours per annum from 2022 by:
   1. CEA reductions of 10 hours per annum (from 80 to 70 hours in Cat 3 schools and from 60 to 50 hours in Cat 2 schools) – current OPA/CEA classifications /definitions remain unchanged – ability for CEA to be increased if compensated by reduced contact time in Cat 3 schools.
   2. OPA reduction from 4.5 hours to 4.0 hours averaged across the year – ability for OPA to increase if compensated by reduced contact time.
   3. Reduced requirements regarding relief lessons but no restrictions on their use. (Secondary 20 down to 16, Primary 15 down to 10 hours pa).
5. Increased allowances for teachers certified as Highly Accomplished ($7000) and Lead ($12000). Sliding scale reduction if also hold POR 3 or 4.
6. Increase in CEA hourly rate from $25 to $28.50 for the life of the agreement – first 30 hours in Cat 3 schools and first 20 hours in Cat 2 schools do not invoke additional compensation.
7. Introduction of 5 days paid Domestic Violence Leave. Our claim was for 10 days.
8. Increased support for early career teachers via 60 hours of additional non-contact time in the first year. Details not yet defined but the concept is welcomed.

The employers also confirm their provisional proposals as follows:

1. Retaining the ESO casual loading at 20%. Strongly resisted by IEU. The increase to 25% is long overdue and can be phased in over the life of the agreement.
2. Part-time teachers to participate in parent-teacher interviews as proposed by the employers (irrespective of days worked). The IEU is willing to differentiate between after-hours events (which are equally inconvenient to all employees) and day time on days that are not worked where flexibility may not exist.
3. POR changes are generally acceptable to the IEU
   1. Simultaneous appointments allowable at POR 1 and POR 2
   2. POR positions may be split/shared
   3. PORs may be appointed in a replacement/temporary role
   4. Early conclusion of POR tenure on basis of unsatisfactory performance after 4 week’s counselling and support (POR1 and POR 2) or 10 weeks’ counselling and support (POR3 and POR 4) and 6 weeks’ notice.
4. Retaining 5 hours CEA for primary teachers
5. Retaining religious observances as exempt from regulation
6. Class size benchmarks
   1. Year 2 to remain at 29. The IEU claim was for R-2 = 25, 3-10 = 29.
   2. Year 7 to increase to 30 in line with current Year 8-10 benchmark.
7. ‘Class Special Factor Considerations’ remain unchanged. IEU had prosed clarifying words as to what constituted special factors for reduced class size or increased support.
8. Minimum non-contact time not detailed – current contact time caps remain. The IEU sought a minimum NCT specified.
9. Paid Parental Leave remains at 14 weeks. IEU claim was for 16 weeks, but gender blind paid leave is welcomed.
10. No provision of paid pandemic leave. Employers were even unwilling to enshrine current policy in the EA on the grounds that policy can change when needed.
11. Amending the Objectives of the Agreement as discussed and provisionally agreed by IEU.
12. Introduce provisions to review AST whilst maintaining the grandfathered payment. The scale of any review has not been agreed. Currently there is no review process.
13. Re-configuring the teacher classification structure as proposed similar to Lutheran EA with GT and PT levels. Implementation details should be manageable.
14. Teacher onsite requirements 10 minutes before and after school/shift — a small item, but one wonders why it is necessary.
15. ESO TOIL to be at hour for hour instead of at penalty rates. The IEU is adamant that the current condition of TOIL at penalty rates (or payment for the extra) be maintained.
16. Termination for unsatisfactory performance to be not timebound. No two-term process. This is problematic and unacceptable in its current form.

The IEU has not necessarily accepted the employers’ positions above, either in part or in full. Obviously there are many items where we are poles apart, but ideally our arguments should be through the lenses of our interests.

If you are interested in finding out more about the other matters that are under discussion call Bruno, Louise or Glen on 8410 0122

(Download this update in PDF format here)