Hold-out employers hit with a MACS truck

Campaigning and media coverage of it expands as tardy Catholic employers further frustrate exhausted staff.

The IEU continues to co-ordinate actions across regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne demanding a deal on a long-overdue Agreement with the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) group of employers.

The latest tool in the union’s armoury is the ‘MACS Truck’, an iconic billboard on wheels which debuted 11 August at a major rally held outside MACS headquarters, James Goold House, in East Melbourne. That day, the imposing but elusive messenger completed a magical mystery trip of suburban schools affected by the bargaining impasse, before making an apt backdrop for rousing speeches and chants at the rally.

Recently, the MACS truck has been photographed at schools in Alphington, North Melbourne, Fitzroy, Lilydale, Albert Park, Brighton, Springvale, Mentone, Essendon and Aberfeldie. It also performed a star turn doing laps of the National Catholic Education Conference, Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, making visible the issues some of those inside the Conference prefer to ignore.

Avi’s Chopping Board hijacked the hashtag #thefutureislistening at the National Catholic Education Conference.

However, if delegates and attendees thought they were free from pesky union activism inside and turned to their phones for respite, they would have received a rude shock. Enterprising IEU members bombarded the event’s Twitter feed with hilarious, exasperated and pointed reminders that the wages and conditions of neglected teachers must be a priority, not an afterthought, for Catholic education.

There is one region, however, that is unvisited by big MACS truck and free from IEU protests. Much of eastern Victoria is an idyllic scene of industrial calm thanks to almost 50 schools in the diocese of Sale in eastern Victoria finalising a deal which matches improvements won in government schools.

It means improved working conditions for teachers in those schools, including reduced classroom hours, and casual rates of pay that exceed those offered in government schools. It also means backpay - by now all staff in the Sale Diocese have received payments covering increases backdated to the start of the year.

Sadly, employers tied to the MACS group, which includes many regional and rural schools, are STILL resisting many of those improvements, particularly consultation and transparency provisions long ago agreed to by DOSCEL and Government schools, nearly 500 days after the current Agreement expired.

This is further exacerbating the plight of educators whose workloads, already unacceptable, continue to spike due to staff absences caused by illness.

Aside from the truck’s voyages, IEU members have held rallies, moved sub-branch motions, handed in damning ‘report cards’ on employer performance, and lit up social media with their concerns. Last Friday morning, a major action outside Wodonga Catholic College was covered by local radio, print, TV and online media.

If Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools can't get this deal over the line, the only option the union is left with is to negotiate individually with the 30+ employers they represent.

Melbourne mainstream media carries the story.

The protest actions are now reaching the mainstream, with The Age and Herald Sun recently featuring major stories highlighting the union’s campaign.

In The Age, Deputy Secretary Dave Brear Independent Education Union deputy general secretary David Brear said school operators had no choice but to confront teacher workloads.

“Schools and school systems have to ask themselves why there is a teacher shortage,” he said. “Some continue to burn out staff and refuse to change and then wonder, where have all the teachers gone?”

The Herald Sun article reported that “the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools 2021 Financial Report states its 290 Catholic schools made a surplus of $154m and had a total income of $2bn. The net assets of the group was $2.4bn”.

IEU General Secretary Deb James said the provisions sought by Catholic teachers did not cost more than the deal struck in state schools and the hold-out MACS schools “seem determined to run on free labour”.

“… but they really need to ask themselves whether offering heavier workloads and poorer workplace cultures is going to help attract and retain teachers.

“We all know that teachers do heaps of additional, unpaid work in the evenings and on weekends – it’s causing widespread burnout and it’s pushing many good people out of the profession,” Ms James said.

Wodonga Catholic College staff make their feelings known.

Constrained by clauses governing multi-enterprise agreements – which the union movement is campaigning to change ­– strike action is a difficult last resort. But nothing is ruled out if the MACS group doesn’t provide its employers the same conditions as their colleagues.

What schools need now is certainty for their 2023 planning - and to be able to offer competitive conditions in a time of staff shortages.

And teachers need better working conditions, pronto!

Regional press has been keen to report the plight of Catholic educators.