The long and sometimes bitter dispute between the union representing Catholic teachers and support staff in NSW and ACT schools, and 11 Catholic dioceses has been resolved.
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Catholic teachers and support staff will vote ‘yes’ to a new enterprise agreement next week, following an 18-month industrial campaign which included two stop work meetings around the state, including in Wollongong.
The new enterprise agreement enshrines access to the Fair Work Commission for arbitration, something that was challenged by the employer, and includes work practices agreements which allow teachers and support staff to spend more time with students and less time on data collection and input, meetings and emails.
IEUA NSW/ACT branch acting secretary Gloria Taylor said the agreement includes a 2.5 per cent pay rise for 2017, 2018 and 2019 in NSW and in the ACT teachers received 1.5 per cent in April, with an additional pay rise to come in line with public schools.
“It’s a tribute to the determination and unity of our members that they stuck to their guns for 18 months, despite attempts by the employers to bribe them with a pay rise, because they knew how fundamental the right to arbitration was,” she said.