Update: 23 June 2008

Negotiations Continue
The long awaited employer documents were finally tabled on Thursday 12 June and have been examined by the VIEU negotiators and the VIEU Committee of Management. Although VIEU agreed to the Employer request not to circulate the documents, and VIEU Reps have been updated on the thrust of the negotiations. VIEU Committee of Management has seen the documents and met last week by teleconference to consider the VIEU response.

Teachers
The documents tabled contained positions on wages and related matters. Parity for teachers regarding wages, including the sign on bonus, was agreed in principle.

Principals/ Deputies/POLs
Parity for other staff is not as straightforward. A different approach to the leadership structures and translation for staff holding positions of leadership has always been maintained in Catholic schools, although we have always aimed at equity through a nexus with Victorian Government schools. Wages for principals and deputy principals in the documents tabled by the Employers, while different in approach to the VIEU tabled versions, show promise. We have identified areas which we believe are problematic in their proposals.

Non-Teaching Staff
Sadly, this is the weakest area of the employer proposal. We are particularly concerned to ensure that wages for school officers and school services officers maintain their value and keep pace with inflation. We have tabled proposals which would give our school officer and schools services officer colleagues increases more commensurate with those available to other staff in schools.

This coming week is critical in our negotiations. We have meetings scheduled on four of the five days and a commitment to meet over the weekend if necessary in an attempt to reach common ground.

One further area of difficulty in negotiations centres on some of the headline claims VIEU has made on behalf of members concerning workload. Discussions to date and materials tabled in those discussions show that fair wages outcomes based on parity are achievable. There is, however, no doubt that workload claims with significant expenditure attached will be correspondingly difficult to achieve.

Reps will be contacted by email later this week with a briefing on our progress (or lack thereof) and will ask that Reps keep  their members informed.

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