Welcome back – another year underway already
2019 is going to be full-on so I hope some of that holiday refreshed feeling remains.
Independent schools are on a continuous cycle of Enterprise Agreement negotiations but we are about to start negotiations for the next Lutheran sector agreement.
Later in the year we will start organising a log of claims for the Catholic agreement to be negotiated early 2020. Members in both the Lutheran and Catholic sectors will need to provide feedback as to issues of concern for incorporation into their sector-wide claims.
The political scene is about to get interesting with an upcoming federal election. The IEU is committed to the ACTU campaign to Change the Rules. People working in schools may get a level of comfort about having a set of rules to work to, but our broader workplace and societal rules are not producing the results we expect in a decent society. Wages growth is stagnant. Casualisation and wage theft are rampant. Young people, women, older people and workers from overseas are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
The rules governing unions and industrial action are particularly constraining of workers simply exercising their democratic workplace rights. The list is extensive. The Rules need a major overhaul .. as does the government!
Education funding is still a political football and now we have the half-time entertainment of religious schools’ exemptions from discrimination legislation. There is another article below about that. As much as members will have a range of views on schools’ ability to discriminate against employees, the IEU supports the members in their employment and supports no particular religious view.
2019 is also an election year for the IEU(SA) executive. Notices will be sent out in due course but if a member is interested in joining the volunteer committee this is the time to put your name forward.
Joining for mutual support we can achieve our professional, industrial and societal goals.
Regards,
Glen Seidel
General Secretary