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Progress, Wins, and Next Steps

Enterprise bargaining continues across the sectors, with mixed results and ongoing negotiations shaping the future of pay, conditions, and workload for our members.

Below is a salary snapshot of selected schools and the Catholic sector, with explanatory notes thereafter.

*Step 12. All other salaries are Step 10.

Catholic Schools – Stalled on Salaries and Workload

In Catholic Education South Australia (CESA), the IEU has proposed a settlement package but faces resistance on key claims. Salary and Workload remain sticking points as well as the low hourly rate paid for co-curricular activities

• Employer Position: Salaries declared “non-negotiable” despite teachers in SA risking becoming the lowest paid nationally. They are seeking salaries to be aligned with Department for Education (DfE) making SA teachers some of the lowest paid in the country.
• IEU Claim: 6% annual pay rise (2025–2027) to restore pre-pandemic wages, plus real workload and class size protections.
• The Curriculum Extension Payment, set at just $28.95, has barely shifted since its inception in 2010 and has not increased at all since 2022. Employers have now proposed lifting it to $35, but this remains far below the professional value of teachers’ time.
• Employers are seeking extending the span of hours for ESOs from 8:00am–6:00pm to 7:00am–7:00pm. For many members, this change would mean a direct loss of pay, as hours that currently attract penalty rates would instead fall within the “ordinary” span of hours.

Employers have agreed to some leave and superannuation improvements, but major salary and workload issues remain unresolved.

Read the full Catholic EB24 update here 

St Peter’s College

St Peter’s College bargaining continues.  The employer is taking a very conservative approach and so have been unwilling to agree to key matters that are not currently included in the National Employment Standards (NES) or legislation. To settle other items, they are only willing to refer to legislation.

Workload is a key issue and will be the focus of the next bargaining meeting where the employer will respond to our claims. Key elements include defining face to face teaching and Non-instruction Time (NIT), defining workload in the agreement in hours and minutes not lessons, and reducing the teaching load.

Current Offer: 4% increase (July 2025), followed by 3.5% (Feb 2026), and 3.5% (Feb 2027).

Pulteney Grammar School

Negotiations at Pulteney have delivered some positive progress on some issues but key issues such as workload and salary remain outstanding.

Workload including time spent undertaking co curricula activities are a key focus of the bargaining. Issues such as Junior School teachers needing to be in their classrooms at 8:15 when the school day starts at 8:30, and 5-minute blocks between lessons for lesson change over (even during doubles) that are not counted as face-to-face teaching are matters that must be addressed.

Key Wins

• Long Service Leave: Access after 7 years (pro-rata)
• Leave Provisions: Paid parental, partner, family, and domestic violence leave expanded.
• Superannuation: Fortnightly payments from 2026 agreed.

Outstanding Issues

• Key elements include defining face to face teaching and non-instruction time, defining workload in the agreement in hours and minutes not lessons, and reducing the teaching load.

• Other matters that are yet to be addressed include reproductive health leave definitions, foster carers leave, right to disconnect, and workload/classification reforms remain under discussion.

Tyndale Christian Schools

Tyndale Schools negotiations have been constructive, delivering real gains for members with further issues under review.

Employer Offer

• Pay Offer: 4% (2025), 3% (2026 & 2027) with 4% interim paid.
• Workload Reduction: Teaching loads capped at 1,420 minutes per week; school year reduced to 38 weeks.
• Leave: Expanded parental, family violence, and long service leave provisions.
• Right to Disconnect: Employer supports formal inclusion in line with Fair Work standards.

Annesley Junior School

Annesley negotiations have been slow to progress, with only one meeting held. The IEU has put a comprehensive claim to the employer and are waiting for a response and the employers log of claims.

What Members Can Do

• Stay Informed: Follow updates through the IEU journal, email communication  and member meetings.
• Be Active: Attend bargaining briefings and support industrial action where necessary.
• Stand United: Strong member participation remains the key to achieving better pay, workloads, and conditions.

St Andrew’s School

Renegotiations will commence at least three months immediately prior to the nominal expiry date of this Agreement. The current EA has an expiration date of 31 December 2025 and the school is yet to provide staff with their Notice of Employees Representational Rights (NERR). Members are yet to endorse a log of claims; however, the IEU is working with members on their claim development.

St Peter’s Woodlands Grammar School

The school has indicated that it would like to commence bargaining in Week 2 of Term 4. Members are planning to hold a Sub-Branch meeting before the end of Term 3 to inform their claim development.

The Hills Montessori

Bargaining begins this week. Members have endorsed a log of claims that includes:

Parental Leave

• Increase Paid Parental Leave to 16 weeks for all staff and 20 weeks for those employees who have 5 years or more continuous service (this matches the Department). There are only 7 other schools that have 12 or less weeks parental leave.
• Super to be paid on parental and partner leave.
• Reduce recharge for paid parental leave from 2 years to 12 months.

Family Special Events Leave

Two paid days for family special events such as moving house, child’s first day of school, etc,

Long Service Leave

Currently Long Service Leave (LSL) can be accessed from 10 years. This is the minimum requirement from the LSL Act. We seek access to LSL from 7 full years of service.

Teacher Workload

Currently the EA is silent on some workload matters.

• Full time load codified by current face to face teaching loads

School Assistant Classification Grade 1

• Currently, most classroom-based school assistants are classified at Grade 1. Even after working into their 4^th year (Grade 1 yr 4), their maximum net salary is $646.25 per week (Grade 1 Level 4, 5 hours per day, 39 weeks a year). We believe that this is manifestly unfair, especially when their ability to have a second job is at best limited by the hours of work. We believe that the removal of grade 1 for classroom support and making grade 2 as the entry level for this role is the best outcome.

Camp allowance

Currently, there is no additional money or time for conducting camps. An amount of $125 would be broadly in line with other Independent schools.

Sunrise Schools and ELC

Negotiations have continued, with the employer cancelling a number of meetings. Progress has been slow. The IEU bargaining team presented their log of claims and the employer has responded.

IEU Parental leave claims shape as a sticking point:

• Increase Paid Parental Leave to 16 weeks for all staff and 20 weeks for those employees who have 5 years or more continuous service (this matches the Department).  Employer response – 14 weeks
• Clause to be gender neutral – Employer response: Not agreed
• Increase partner leave to 10 days paid so it is no longer a top up of the government payment. – Employer response: Not agreed
• Super to be paid on parental and partner leave. – Employer response: Agreed

As does Teacher Workload:

• Days of attendance to be included at the current number of days – Employer response: Not agreed
• Full time load codified by current face to face teaching loads – Employer response: Not agreed
• NIT to be defined and a minimum set at current rates – Employer response: Not agreed

The other major sticking point is country incentives. Currently staff at Whyalla and Naracoorte have some initiatives which help with attraction and retention, but these are hidden in policy. We believe that for transparency and an enhanced ability to attract staff this should be in the EA.

The employer has agreed to include 2 Family Special Events days (the current arrangement which was problematic was to use Personal Leave for this purpose).

Woodcroft College

The school has issued the NERR with the first meeting to occur in week 1 of Term 4. IEU members will meet this week to discuss preliminary claims and who will represent the Sub-Branch at enterprise bargaining negotiations.

St George College

Members and interested staff have begun meeting. St George staff have been some of the lowest paid for some time now and they are looking for change. A further meeting is to occur this week when members will develop the log of claims.

Walford Anglican School for Girls

We held our first EB meeting last Wednesday. IEU(SA) Reps Emily Button and Carmen Beaton were at the table with IEU(SA) Industrial Officer Robert Seals and IEU(SA) Organiser Brian Horan. We went through the bargaining process and the Sub-Branch presented it’s unendorsed log of claims. The Sub-Branch met again on September 15 to finalise the log of claims for the next bargaining meeting on Wednesday 24 September.

Indie School

The negotiations continue with a number of items agreed but yet to be finalised. A sticking point at the moment is Managements’ claim to make Public Holidays uniform across all states. How they think that is possible remains to be seen, public holidays are legislated by each state to occur on an approved day.

Investigator College

Bargaining commenced 1 September with the first Sub-Branch meeting and this was followed up with the second Sub-Branch meeting on 15 September. Members have received a copy of the finalised log of claims and we encourage all members to provide their support as our campaign kicks off in earnest.

St John’s College

Bargaining commenced at St John’s College on 3 September, with the second following on 17 September. Members should now have a copy of the finalised log of claims—the roadmap for winning stronger pay and conditions. Our campaign is now moving into full swing and every member’s support will make a difference.

Pedare College

The IEU has now served its key Workload Claims in a meeting on 10 September; calling for class size and class complexity regulation, as well as reduced Student Contact Time to mirror the department’s reduction of 60 mins. The employer has acknowledged the issue with respect to workload and has invited innovative solutions to the issues. We await a response to the IEU claims early in Term 4.

St Peter’s Girls School

Members met at multiple points in the week commencing 8 September to discuss the school’s latest offer. There are two significant barriers to finalising the EA.  Firstly, the policy change mechanism, which provides protections to the workload achievements of this round which the school prefer to keep in policy. Secondly, an additional 0.5% in the final year of the agreement in 2027. The IEU has written to the school with our preferred wording on the change mechanism and indicated that members will continue with their current industrial action, should the school not accept those two key terms.

Source
https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/publications/poverty-lines#2025