Tasmanian Catholic bargaining update
Negotiations on a new Agreement covering staff in Tasmanian Catholic schools has recommenced, with a meeting held on 12 May between the IEU and employer representatives.
For the first time the meeting took place on our home turf at the IEU Hobart Office, marking what we hope will be a new, more constructive and cooperative approach to the bargaining process.
At the top of the list of issues discussed was wages. Members will know that under the terms of the current IEU negotiated Tasmanian Catholic Agreement, percentage increases paid to teachers in Tasmanian government schools flow onto staff in Catholic schools. This happened in 2022 when staff in Catholic schools received a 2.35% wage increase.
In 2023 and over the coming years, determining the applicable payment is not entirely straightforward, as the government deal includes percentage increases and additional payments which are made at different rates to different categories of staff.
This means that we need to negotiate with the employers to ensure that staff in Catholic schools get at least parity with staff in like roles in government schools. Our early discussions with employer reps have been really positive and we have committed to work together to ensure that increases won in government schools flow on to staff in Catholic schools as soon as possible. We are confident that this will be before the end of June and that the payment will include back pay to 2 March this year, and that further wage increases will be locked in for 2024 and 2025.
There will be more to follow but the headline details of the government outcome are this:
A 3.5% increase for all staff, backdated to March 2023
3% increases in 2024 and 2025
Additional increases of $1000 to higher-earning staff and $1500 to those on the lower end of the pay scale
Further additional payments made each year of the Agreement to lower-earning staff.
There are a significant number of other improvements to entitlements and working conditions that the IEU is seeking in our Log of Claims, some of which have already been won in government schools. We will be pushing hard for much-needed improvements, particularly around workload and the ES structure. Members in primary schools are no doubt keenly aware that weekly face-to-face teaching time in Catholic schools is currently 1 hour more a week than it is in government schools – something which must be addressed.
Other key issues discussed at the recent meeting included Long Service Leave, parental leave, redundancy and wages for staff in leadership positions.
The parties have scheduled a series of further meetings over the coming weeks, and the IEU will hold a ‘Rep Huddle’ to update Tasmanian Catholic school Reps. As negotiations continue we will be in frequent contact with IEU members.
Clearly good outcomes in negotiations only come about when the union is a strong and powerful voice - this in turn relies on us having strong membership! If you have colleagues in your school who are not IEU members, now is the time to ask them to join as we are always stronger together.