The inflated number, the union said, is an attempt to challenge the IEU’s claim that there is now a clear staff majority across employers of every mainstream Victorian Catholic school in favour of a Single Interest Authorisation (SIA) for fair bargaining.
The Victorian Catholic Education Authority (VCEA), the body representing Catholic employers, is opposing the IEU’s case before the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for fair bargaining rights.
The union is seeking to bargain under a SIA to ensure staff can exercise their right to protected industrial action and access to good faith bargaining orders – just as their colleagues in public schools are preparing to do, the IEU said.
To achieve that, the union needs to prove it has the support of a majority of all staff employed in the sector.
Over Term 4 last year, a major grassroots campaign did just that, the union said, with its collection of nearly 19,000 signed Statements of Support for an SIA from staff across Victorian Catholic education.
This represents a clear statewide majority – and a majority at every mainstream employer – based on the widely accepted sector workforce estimate, the union said, of between 32,000 and 35,000 employees.
“The submission of massively inflated employment figures is disappointing but not surprising, given the employers’ track record,” IEU General Secretary David Brear said.
“Employers have chosen a drawn-out dispute rather than properly negotiating with a suitably empowered workforce about outdated pay and conditions. That’s unfortunate, but we are ready.
“During a teacher shortage crisis exacerbated by pay and conditions lagging behind other states, it seems employers are confusing the number of staff we’d all like to see in schools with the numbers they actually employ.”
An initial report released by the FWC-appointed ballot agent, indicates that there are clear staff majorities for fair bargaining rights in 24 of the 33 respondent employers.
However, the report, the IEU said, “also exposed the VCEA’s latest attempt to frustrate this democratic process and deny staff their basic bargaining rights”.
The IEU said that as recently as October, the VCEA publicly stated that it employs 35,000 staff. Indeed on their own website, less than a week ago, that figure was 32,500 – yet the figure submitted to the independent accredited agent assessing the SIA application inflated staff totals to 44,970.
The largest phantom increases were in the numbers provided for Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS), the employer for around 300 Catholic schools.
MySchool figures indicate MACS employed 17228 staff in schools in 2025, and its most recent financial statements indicate it employs 19930 staff (including casuals and education office workers), yet the IEU claimed MACS submitted a figure of 26,632 current employees to the ballot agent assigned by the FWC.
“The last thing we want to see is a split in Victorian Catholic education, but the VCEA seems prepared to let this happen rather than give its own staff fair bargaining rights,” Brear said.
“We’ve got clear majorities in support of fair bargaining in 24 employers – and we believe that if employers presented accurate staff lists, we’d have majorities right across the state.”
Brear said hard-working staff across the state’s Catholic schools will be “furious at yet again being stonewalled”.
“I really feel for school leaders stuck in the middle of this, as well as the smaller employers who we know are increasingly uncomfortable with the VCEA’s tactics, which clearly contravene the social justice principles which underpin Catholic teachings.”
The IEU has called on employers “to do the right thing” and agree to a SIA covering all staff in Victorian Catholic education.
Should they continue to refuse, the union said it will contest the employer-provided staffing figures and continue to progress its SIA submission in the Fair Work Commission.
