IEU Victoria Tasmania Branch said proposed changes would strip overtime payments from education support staff, weaken redundancy protections and reduce payments for part-time work.

Employers, it said, have also tied full backpay to agreement by November 15, despite key drafting arriving months late or remaining outstanding.

A new survey of more than 4500 IEU members has indicated that around three-quarters would be prepared to take protected industrial action if legally able.

The survey was undertaken in response to the Catholic employers’ latest offer and the next steps in a bargaining dispute affecting more than 30,000 staff across the sector.

Unlike their government-school colleagues – and Catholic education staff in every other Australian state – Victorian Catholic education staff cannot currently access key bargaining rights, including the right to take protected industrial action during enterprise bargaining.

The IEU believes Victorian Catholic school staff are one of the largest groups of workers in the country currently denied this right.

The union collected more than 20,000 signatures of support from members and other school staff for its application for a Single Interest Authorisation, which would provide access to protected industrial action and enforceable good faith bargaining obligations for staff at participating employers.

At a Fair Work Commission hearing in June, the IEU argued that staff need strong bargaining rights to secure timely and fair outcomes. Catholic employers opposed the application. More than 17 weeks after the hearing, the Commission’s decision remains outstanding.

“Catholic bargaining is at a critical point,” IEU Victoria Tasmania general secretary David Brear said in a statement.

“Employers continue to seek to erode conditions while schools face unsustainable workloads, safety concerns and pressure on the resources needed to support every student.

“The Victorian Catholic Education Authority, acting on behalf of Catholic employers, is holding overdue salary increases to ransom to bulldoze through cuts to conditions while our members are denied access to industrial rights.”

Brear said employers could consent to bargaining under a Single Interest Authorisation, but instead had opposed the union’s application “and tried to pressure staff into accepting inferior conditions”.

“Our members are asking for the same opportunity to bargain effectively. Seventeen weeks after the hearing, they deserve a decision,” he said.

The union believes the survey results cast serious doubt on whether the Catholic employers’ current offer can secure the majority support needed across the sector to deliver one Agreement, raising the prospect of fragmented bargaining outcomes.

“A fragmented outcome is exactly what we have been working to avoid,” Brear said.

“Staff doing the same work in Catholic schools should have clear and consistent conditions.

“A Single Interest Authorisation covering all employers would provide the strongest pathway to one fairly negotiated agreement across the sector.”

The IEU says the proposed changes include:

  • Weaker job security when staff need it most: employers are proposing a redundancy process that weakens longstanding commitments to avoid redundancies wherever possible and ensure staff receive a fair process.
  • Taking overtime pay from education support staff: employers want greater power to direct staff to undertake after-hours duties without overtime pay, replacing existing entitlements with time off scheduled to suit the employer.
  • More teachers’ work going unrecognised: employers want to remove routine recording of covered out-of-hours duties without setting a clear annual limit on the work recognised through their proposed time-off arrangements.
  • Cutting part-time staff’s pay: many part-time teachers would receive lower payments for additional teaching at casual relief rates, while changes to the formula for calculating part-time work could also reduce employees’ regular pay.
  • Failing to address teacher workload concerns: Catholic employers have not matched the equivalent of an extra hour a week of teacher-controlled time for preparation and assessment won in government schools, and have refused IEU claims to reduce class sizes.

“Members recognise the significant movement on salaries. But the whole package matters,” Brear said.

“Redundancy protections are particularly important when staff across Catholic education are already facing uncertainty about their jobs. Those protections should be strengthened, not wound back.”

Employers have made full backpay to August 10 conditional on reaching agreement in principle with the IEU by November 15, while key draft clauses have been provided months behind schedule or remain outstanding.

“For three decades, Catholic school staff have had pay parity with their government-school colleagues. Employers are now putting that longstanding principle at risk,” Brear said.

The IEU is calling on Catholic employers to withdraw the backpay deadline, commit to matching all salaries and allowances paid in government schools, provide the outstanding drafting and negotiate improvements to workload and existing protections.