IEU Reps standing up for colleagues against the odds

At two Christian Colleges in outer-suburban Melbourne, there are contrasting examples of the challenges Reps can face.

Plenty Valley Christian College has had IEU-negotiated Agreements for years, and Rep Al Pitman’s members are working towards some great outcomes, including a reduction in face-to-face teaching time and class sizes, the elimination of extras, and salaries nearly six per cent above rates in State and Catholic schools.

At St Andrew’s Christian College, there is no EBA and Andrew Fraser became the school’s first IEU Rep, immediately signing eight members.

Al Pitman, Plenty Valley Christian College

Al has been a union member for 15 years, and highlights the ‘insurance’ provided by union membership.

‘Many of us insure our homes, our contents, our cars and our lives because of potential accidents, but do we have any form of insurance for our jobs? Our employers often say they will support us when we have issues with parents and students, but what happens when you are the one who has done the wrong thing or are at fault?

‘Is your employer able to stand behind you then? At least with being a union member you have access to legal representation if things go wrong for you in the workplace.’

Al says the union has helped him understand what acceptable practices in the workplace are.

‘Any time there are issues and concerns about the way things are done or what are acceptable practices you can make a phone call to find the necessary information which you can then take back to your employer.

‘You also become aware of what is going on in other schools and find out what the industry standards are. This is how I have learnt about the importance of Enterprise Bargaining Agreements. These Agreements allow for the opportunity to improve conditions in the workplace for both employees and the employer.’

At Plenty Valley, a general staff member, a primary teacher, a secondary teacher, a learning support teacher, a part-time teacher, and a position of responsibilities representative and an IEU Organiser are involved in EBA negotiations.

‘That team collects thoughts from all of the staff in order to present a log of claims to our employer,’ says Al.

‘My role is to represent secondary teachers and the main area of concern in our most recent negotiations are face-to-face teaching hours and the number of extras we have to do. In other words, our workload.’

The union helps the staff team formulate their claims and negotiate.

‘We as representatives do not have the complete skills or knowledge to be able to do this and the union’s help in this is extremely valuable.’

Al says changes to the Award covering teachers in 2010 covered only ‘the lowest minimum conditions that a teacher could have’, and left some areas unprotected. There were concerns about personal leave, work during non-term times (previously known as holidays), face-to-face hours, long service leave, and salary.

Al and his negotiating colleagues listed areas of concern and approached every staff member as to whether they wanted an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement or not.

‘We had at least 85 staff members out of about 100 say they wanted an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, and that was enough to start it happening. It requires a majority of staff to be in favour of it, which we clearly had, and then things progressed from there.

‘This was a really good thing for the staff at our school because it has led to our conditions never really falling more than two years behind what is being experienced by the VGS and Catholic sectors who set the benchmark for education in Victoria.’

Andrew Farmer, St Andrews Christian College, Wantirna South

Andrew says it has been tough to establish a union presence at his school as Christian Colleges were ‘not traditionally unionised’.

There was only one other member before he joined up! It makes his effort to sign up eight members once he took on the role even more impressive.

‘I think staff are realising being a member of a union is not all bad!’ Andrew says humbly. ‘In fact it is a very positive step to collectively work with management co-operatively to improve pay and working conditions.’

His advice for employees seeking better conditions in a non-unionised school?

‘Start a conversation with your colleagues around agreed issues such as the working hours and agreed holidays and leave entitlements.

‘I think staff have to be organised and work together co-operatively with management to get a good outcome!’

Next step for Andrew and his burgeoning IEU presence at St Andrews is to ‘consolidate and continue to slowly build the membership up’.

‘We will continue to discuss issues that affect teachers directly in our school including face-to-face teaching hours.’

He’s also looking at changing the layout and furniture in the staffroom to encourage staff engagement.

Andrew emphasises the importance of positive conversations with the principal: when embraced cooperatively, unionism is of benefit to employer as well as employee.

Andrew calls on history when discussing his personal feelings about unionism.

‘Many of the early Trade Unionists were linked to a Christian faith in the UK such as the Tolpuddle Martyrs who came out of methodism. The Australian Labour Party has some of its roots in the Catholic and Methodist faith.

‘There is nothing wrong with being a Christian member of a trade union and trying to improve the conditions of teachers, parents and students at a school. If teachers are treated well the whole school environment will improve, leading to a greater sense of community for parents, staff and students.’