Local Catholic school staff join statewide fight

STAFF from St Laurence O’Toole Primary School and Mary MacKillop Catholic Regional College in Leongatha joined Friday’s Statewide Day of Action calling for fair bargaining rights, better pay and improved working conditions for employees in Victorian Catholic schools.

In Leongatha, Friday’s action consisted of organising a coffee van in the car park near the St Laurence O’Toole Catholic Church, encouraging community members to have a coffee and a chat.

Coffee cups featured a QR code linking people to a petition calling on the State Government and employers to value the work of school staff.

Fliers handed out stated that in Victorian Catholic schools, salaries are among the lowest in Australia, workloads are unsustainable, and schools are struggling to find and keep staff.

Local staff stressed that the issue is not at a school level.

“It’s not the schools; it’s the VCEA,” one said, referring to the Victorian Catholic Education Authority.

Friday’s Statewide action was organised by the Independent Education Union (IEU) Victoria Tasmania.

In arguing the need for action, the union said Catholic education employers in Victoria have refused about 100 of the IEU’s 113 claims, and noted that staff in Catholic schools do not have the rights to protected industrial action afforded to those at the State’s Government schools.

With Victorian Catholic school staff fighting for the right to strike for improved conditions, those involved in Friday’s action had to confine their efforts to before or after school unless they happened to have a scheduled day off.

“Catholic school staff are standing together because they are tired of being denied the same fair bargaining rights available in most Australian workplaces,” the union’s General Secretary David Brear said.

IEU says unresolved issues include salaries, workload protections, time in lieu, camp allowances, paid parental leave, education support classifications and basic union rights.

Visit megaphone.org.au select “Petitions” and search “support the staff who support our kids” to view and sign the petition.