MORE than 4000 teachers and support staff at 106 Queensland CAtholic schools will strike for an hour on Wednesday, August 23. It’s the second action in ten days.
The strike – from 10am – 11am – will take place at some of Queensland’s most prestigious Catholic schools, including All Hallows’ School, St Joseph’s Nudgee College, St Patrick’s College (Shorncliffe), Stuartholme School and Marist College Ashgrove. A full list of the schools involved can be found here.
The action is being taken by members of the Independent Education Union – Queensland and Northern Territory, and is “a last resort but the only avenue left” according to IEU-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke.
He said Queensland Catholic school employers had failed to hear employees’ concerns about working conditions.
“There’s a workload crisis for teachers in our schools but the employers don’t want to talk about it,” Mr Burke said.
“Catholic school support staff haven’t seen a change in their wage structure in over 30 years but the employers don’t want to talk about it.
He has called on Catholic school employers to return to the bargaining table with proposals that address outstanding employee concerns.
“By not doing so, the employers are putting the future of quality education in Queensland Catholic schools at risk,” Mr Burke said.
Queensland Catholic School employers have made an enterprise bargaining offer which would mean a total 8.75 per cent increase in payments to employees in 2023 alone, including wage and superannuation increases as well as cost of living measures.
A spokesman for the Queensland Catholic Education Commission (QCEC) said union representatives had agreed at a Fair Work Commission conference on July 25 that formal negotiations had progressed as far as they could and were therefore finalised and that employers would proceed to an employee vote on proposed enterprise agreements.
“While the Branch Secretary of the IEU-QNT is keen to organise action, it’s difficult to understand what he is hoping to achieve by this latest action after previously agreeing that negotiations have been finalised,” the spokesman said.
