Bargaining for your pay and working conditions for all Catholic schools will soon begin in earnest. Here’s what you really need to know.
The pay and working conditions you receive above the legal minimum standard are the result of enterprise bargaining, a process of negotiation between an employer and employee representatives.
That process leads to a written Enterprise Bargaining Agreement [EBA] that covers a wide range of conditions of employment, including:
- pay increases, pay scales, and incremental advancements
- leave (annual, personal, compassionate, etc.)
- working hours
- work loads
- redundancy provisions
- your right to be consulted about major workplace changes
Bringing you up-to-date:
Yes, there have been steps already taken by your union to commence the bargaining process with a draft Log of Claims created based on input at member meetings. However, legal and administrative changes forced a longer than usual delay in progressing this bargaining cycle.
The last Catholic Education Agreements expired in 2018 and in the meantime, your current working conditions have remained in force and pay rises were administered through a separate memorandum of understanding between CEWA and your union.
It’s time to get on with it.
In December 2020, CEWA was granted authorisation from the Federal Minister for Industrial Relations to be declared as a Single Interest Employer. Under the Fair Work Act, two or more closely connected employers can apply to nominate one body or agent to negotiate on their behalf. CEWA Office will be the bargaining agent, i.e. is representing all Catholic employers in WA.
The next step for CEWA is to apply to the Fair Work Commission for a Single Employee Authorisation. Once that’s done, CEWA will issue a Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR), which is the official notice Enterprise Bargaining is about to commence. We expect that to happen in the next month or so.
Do not respond to the NERR when you receive it. As an IEU member your union is already your default bargaining representative. We cannot represent you if you nominate yourself or others.