Teachers in Catholic schools across NSW and the ACT are locked in a bitter dispute with the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations (CCER) over a new enterprise agreement. Since April 2014, when negotiations started,  teachers have held numerous stop-work actions, and their union, the Independent Education Union (IEU), has organised a media campaign to raise workers’ concerns over the proposed new agreement.  

Continued pressure has won union members  a number of gains, but many issues remain in dispute. IEU members have stood firm against a proposed 10-day reduction to sick leave entitlements, a plan to transition to a lower pay structure, removal of support for provisionally and conditionally accredited teachers, changes to the length of uninterrupted meal breaks and an increase to hours for support staff.

The CCER has coupled its attacks on working conditions and wages with an ideological push to restrict teachers’ beliefs and behaviour. It has proposed that the agreement include a new “ethos clause” which is much more prescriptive than existing provisions applying to teachers and support staff.

Discussions between the CCER and the union have highlighted that the employers are seeking the ability to impose church ideology on workers. It has admitted that it wants employees’ values subject to scrutiny. The CCER is particularly concerned with staff views regarding same-sex relationships, IVF treatment, divorce, abortion and cohabitation outside marriage.

If implemented, the proposed clause will prohibit staff engaging in any “word, action or lifestyle which is contrary to the mission, teaching or values of the Catholic Church”. The rule will cover behaviour “in or out of the workplace”, giving schools the right to pry into the lives of staff.  

The union has labelled the clause “extraordinarily intrusive” and will oppose its inclusion in the agreement. It has also called for government to end the exemption from anti-discrimination laws that applies to Catholic schools and other private education providers.  

To get involved in the IEU campaign, contact your local chapter representative or the IEU head office.