Catholic teachers have voted against an enterprise agreement with 88 per cent voting ‘no’ due to the Catholic employers refusal to guarantee access to Fair Work Commission arbitration.
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The arbitration is wanted by members of the Independent Education Union for managing future disputes and other agreed conditions.
The vote followed stop work meetings coordinated by the union in November and December, some of which included staff from James Sheahan Catholic High School, Catherine McAuley Catholic Primary School,St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, and St Joseph’s Primary School in Molong.
There were 15,968 teachers and support staff who took part in the vote with 14,031 votes against the agreement.
Despite the dispute, a 2.5 per cent pay rise was settled almost a year ago, but is yet to be paid.
Union secretary John Quessy said dialogue will have to be reopened.
“If employers have the best interests of their staff at heart, they’ll return to the bargaining table to negotiate a reasonable agreement,” he said.
Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
