After striking again last Monday, teachers and support staff in Catholic schools have rejected the non-union endorsed enterprise agreement (EA).
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The result of the ballot was declared on Tuesday after the Independent Education Union (IEU) advised against accepting the offer.
Claiming in its current form the agreement could see Catholic employers vetoing the right of the union to access the Fair Work Commission for arbitration.
The union campaigned strongly against the proposal and urged a no vote, which was delivered handsomely, with 87.87% of participants voting no.
The no vote follows a series of rolling stoppages coordinated by IEU in November and December.
Teachers from St Catherine’s Catholic School have participated in the stoppages.
IEU Secretary John Quessy says there were 15,968 teachers and support staff in 11 Catholic dioceses who voted, and a resounding 14,031 voted down the Catholic employers’ non-union EA.
“This is a very solid result and we hope that Catholic employers are listening to the voice of their employees,” he says.
“While I’m very pleased with the NO vote this is not the end of the matter and we still need to thrash out an EA which is acceptable to our members”
IEU is seeking to reopen a dialogue with Catholic employers.
“If employers have the best interests of their staff at heart, they’ll return to the bargaining table to negotiate a reasonable agreement,” Mr Quessy said.
“Members have shown that they are willing to take strike action, and employers should have no doubts about whether they will continue to, if their right to arbitration in particular is not upheld.”
Although the dispute is not over pay, a 2.5% pay rise was settled nearly a year ago, but has yet to be paid.