10 years ago, new collective agreements for Queensland Catholic schools were approved in the culmination of a 15-month campaign to secure leading teacher wages and other key bargaining claims.
IEU-QNT members’ Recognise, Respect, Reward campaign held strong throughout those 15 months despite little willingness from employers to engage with employees’ bargaining concerns.
Campaign story
During the campaign, protected industrial action supported by more than 8,600 members across 242 schools included:
- Bans on whole of staff meetings.
- Bans on using planning, preparation and correction time (PPCT) for other purposes.
- Bans on responding to emails outside of working hours.
- Strike action.
Members participated in a full-day strike on 25 February 2016, attending mass meetings in 11 regions across the state.
More than 1,000 members rallied in Brisbane alone.
The story was widely covered in media across the state.
A community petition in support of the campaign attracted over 3,000 signatures.
Employers expended significant energy fighting members’ protected action applications in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) rather than resolving the bargaining issues.
More than a year of negotiation and sustained collective action led to a breakthrough in the FWC.
Nine days of facilitated discussionswith employers through the FWC’s New Approaches program led to a resolution.
Outcomes
When new agreements went to a vote, 96% of employees in Diocesan schools and 93% of employees in Religious Institute schools voted in favour.
The FWC approved the agreements on 25 August 2016; they came into full legal force on 1 September 2016.
The outcomes were extraordinary.
Members achieved teacher wages that moved beyond ties to the state public sector and were instead comparable to leading rates paid interstate – ending a decade-long disparity.
Experienced teacher wages were set on a trajectory to break six figures, reaching $101,000 by July 2018.
Protections around PPCT were enshrined in the new agreements.
School officers secured wage increases, greater access to allowances and smoother pathways to reclassification.
Term-time staff gained access to additional hours and income when work arose during term or vacation periods.
Professional development entitlements were formalised for school officers and services staff, with reimbursement where development occurred outside ordinary hours.
Guidance counsellors and career counsellors received long-overdue formal recognition of their professional standing, including workload review provisions and a minimum salary range. Boarding school staff secured a minimum wage schedule, ending years of shamefully inadequate wages.
Services staff gained a skills-based classification structure with additional pay points and a new wages and conditions schedule.
Now, a similar story is being written
Employees in Queensland Catholic schools are currently negotiating with employers for replacement collective agreements.
The circumstances bear similarities to those 10 years prior.
With state school negotiations parked for arbitration in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, Catholic schools must lead the way on wages.
And once again, pace-setting rates interstate are in members’ sights.
The employee wage claim targets wages in New South Wales Catholic schools, ensuring teacher wages do not fall behind and beginning to address the 10–25% wage disparity facing school officers.
Other claims in members’ campaign for ACTION NOW on the key issues in schools would address workload pressures, ensure recognition of specialist and leadership staff and implement contemporary rights at work.
The story of these current negotiations is still being written but, 10 years on, the achievements of Recognise, Respect, Reward remain relevant.
It shows what can happen when members are united, resilient and determined to see their campaign through to the very end.
