Catholic EB24 negotiations update
Recently, members in Catholic schools received an update from CESA regarding the progress of bargaining. CESA said that the key themes to-date from staff include improved salary and allowances and responding to workload pressures.
We agree.
- That’s why we’ve called for smaller class sizes & enhanced classroom support. Yet, CESA says that they do not intend to change class sizes.
- That’s why we’ve called for returning time to teachers and ending the unsustainable teacher workload through practical measures. Yet CESA are yet to put forward any workload proposals that reduce teacher workload; the only substantive change they want is to increase the number of relief lessons a teacher can teach.
- That’s why we have put front and centre the ESO increasing work and complexity. Yet the only CESA proposal on ESO workload is to increase the span of hours that some ESOs can be required to work.
On salary, CESA says that while “salary increases are a critical consideration” they intend to simply do what has been done for the last few agreements and align with the SA Department for Education, despite your real wage (your wages adjusted for inflation) taking a 10% hit since 2020.
We believe more is needed
Why? South Australian Catholic Top Step Teachers are the second lowest paid in the country:
| State | Salary |
| TAS | $ 114,882.00 |
| SA | $ 116,160.00 |
| VIC | $ 116,894.00 |
| NT | $ 122,036.00 |
| QLD | $ 123,101.00 |
| ACT | $ 125,582.00 |
| NSW | $ 125,763.00 |
| WA | $ 126,423.00 |
The bargaining meetings continue, and the IEU will keep pressing Catholic employers on these key claims.
Want to get involved in the campaign for better conditions?
Come along to one of the meetings to be held on Thursday in Week 5 and Week 6. Details will be emailed directly to Catholic members soon.
