VOICE The Northern
Vol. 5 No. 2
July 2011
In this edition •
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Lutheran Negotiations
Professional Issues Conference Darwin, Saturday, 6 August 2011
The newsletter for IEUA-QNT members
Lutheran Sector Collective Bargaining
Employer Representatives ‘Abandon’ Negotiations Urgent Negotiations Needed Lutheran sector employer representatives have abandoned discussions on a three jurisdiction collective agreement between the Northern Territory (NT), Western Australia (WA) and South Australia (SA). The employer has instead indicated negotiations will continue separately in the three jurisdictions.
Employees had brought to the table a well-considered position which had been endorsed by employees in schools in an elaborate consultation and endorsement process. Employee representatives also were able to table for discussion elaborated clauses on all items endorsed by employees.
Given the delay in negotiation, the LSA was advised by the IEUA that an interim wage increase should be made.
IEUA-QNT Branch Secretary Terry Burke said it was disappointing to see the lack of vision by Lutheran employer representatives at the negotiations.
Employers had indicated in the tri-jurisdictional negotiations that no increases could be made until all negotiations were concluded. LSA has now advised employees that an interim three percent increase will be made from the first pay period after 25 July 2011.
“Employer representatives objected to what they described as ‘enterprise bargaining giving’ in response to the employee claim; however, it was clear that the employer attitude was enterprise bargaining ’taking’ from employees,” he said.
The interim wage increase is a positive sign of good faith from employers and clearly will be appreciated by employees.
“When challenged on the employer position generally and in particular their position of reducing all sick leave accruals to 10 days per year, the employer representatives chose to abandon discussions.”
Duty of Care
The decision to abandon negotiations has come after nearly a year of opportunity to prepare for the joint negotiations and face-to-face negotiations in June.
“Employees have every right to feel dismayed at the employer walking out on these negotiations after being invited to participate in the joint negotiations.”
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Remote Area Survey
The negotiations showed that Lutheran employers have little vision for the potential of a three jurisdiction agreement and that they had a consistent agenda of adopting the lowest conditions, effectively reducing existing conditions for a considerable number of employees.
IEUA-QNT members will be contacted in the new term to reaffirm a relevant log of claims and to identify representatives to the relevant Single Bargaining Unit (SBU). The next SBU meeting to negotiate a Northern Territory Lutheran collective agreement will be held in August in Alice Springs.
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Judith Cooper Award
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School Support Staff Update
Professional Issues Conference Registration Form
Professional Issues Conference Darwin - Saturday, August 6 2011 For the second year, the IEUA-QNT will be holding its annual Northern Territory Professional Issues Conference. on 6 August at the Novotel Atrium, Darwin.
To find out more about speakers attending our conference and to download further information please visit the IEUA-QNT website at www.qieu.asn.au/ntconference
This year’s conference is themed on Practical Pedagogy in an era of change.
Following the conference, members are invited to attend the Conference Dinner, also being held at the Novotel.
The range of presentations will address key issues in relation to the Australian Curriculum and the pedagogies necessary to assist students to make the most of their learning opportunities.
The Judith Cooper Award will also be presented during the course of the evening.
The content of the conference is highly relevant to the ever evolving professional environment of our time and attendance can be counted towards the professional development requirements for teacher registration.
This award is presented to recognise an individual member’s outstanding contribution as a union representative. More information can be found on page three and a registration form is attached on page four.
he Northern Voice The Northern Voice The Northern Voice The Northern Voice The No Alice Springs Members Informed About The Importance of Duty of Care IEUA-QNT members in Alice Springs were informed about their duty of care responsibilities during a recent Central Australia Organising Committee meeting, (pictured below) Organiser Nick Holliday visited Alice Springs in June highlighting that all school employees, including teachers and school support staff, have a duty of care to provide a safe working, teaching and learning environment to all people who attend the school at all times. “We live in an ever increasing litigious society where citizens are aware of their rights and commonly seek legal solutions to their problems or events. It is therefore essential that education professionals in schools are armed with knowledge as to their rights and responsibilities both to enable them to prevent possible injuries occurring and to deal with the ramifications appropriately,” Nick said. He said members were made aware that all employees must take reasonable steps to protect students from reasonably foreseeable harm; however, they do not have a duty to ensure that no injury will ever be suffered by students. Members also discussed how to establish if a duty is owed and how a breach of the duty of care can occur.
Education professionals can minimise their potential liability by: • Maintaining appropriate guidelines for activities and ensuring these are followed; • Acting promptly and intervening as early as possible when a potentially dangerous situation arises; • Properly maintaining equipment and confiscating dangerous implements; • Erring on the side of caution to accommodate potentially explosive situations, particularly in supervising students; • Reporting dangers or potential dangers to the Principal; and • Assisting injuries as soon as possible and making notes and obtaining statements from witnesses regarding the circumstances of the accident.
“A breach will most often occur from failing to provide adequate supervision or instruction, failing to intervene in a situation, or in a deliberate act, such as pushing a student down stairs.”
Alice Springs Members Endorse Remote Area Survey Members in remote schools, including Ltyentye Apurte Community Education Centre (pictured below), have endorsed a remote area survey to help identify critical housing issues.
Nick said quality housing is essential if good staff are to be attracted to Indigenous and remote communities and for them to remain in these communities.
The survey, to be sent out to members next term, will determine current inadequacies of housing and assess the quality and suitability of housing available to teachers in remote areas of the Northern Territory.
“The establishment of housing committees in all schools have also played an important role in identifying housing issues of concern to our members so that these issues are dealt with in a timely manner.”
IEUA-QNT members at Ltyentye Apurte Community Education Centre spoke with organiser Nick Holliday during his recent visit to the remote school, making a commitment to work with their colleagues in other remote communities to identify areas of concern. “Members identified that whilst a number of positive changes have been made to housing provision and policy, in some locations housing is overcrowded, inadequate or in disrepair.”
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The Northern Voice The Northern Voice The Northern Voice The Northern Voice The N
The Judith Cooper Award The Award Our union relies heavily on the efforts of members of our Chapters and Chapters themselves to provide initial assistance to fellow members and act as representatives of their fellow members. Nominations are called for the ‘Judith Cooper Award’ which is presented in recognition of a member’s outstanding contribution as a union representative and/or in recognition of a Chapter’s outstanding contribution to building a strong union. The award provides the opportunity for a School Chapter to recognise the outstanding efforts of Chapter activists by nominating those most deserving of this award. The award recognises the particular contribution of all union activists and especially honours an outstanding contribution of an individual on behalf of Chapter members. Why was the Judith Cooper Award Created? Judith Cooper played an instrumental role in the establishment of a union in the non-government sector in the Northern Territory. In 1983 Judith Cooper, a school assistant at St Mary’s Primary School, and some teacher colleagues at other predominately Catholic schools joined together to start working through the issues which were affecting independent school employees. In 1984 Judith was instrumental in the establishment of The Northern Territory Independent School Staff Association (NTISSA). Judith was elected the first Branch Secretary for NTISSA in 1984. Within the year NTISSA had worked extensively to establish the first award to cover independent schools in the NT. AWARD CRITERIA: - Works diligently and tirelessly to assist members to address their issues. - Acts with honesty, integrity and courage in the conduct of union affairs. - Promotes member education, action and networking at the Chapter and/or Division level. - Has made an outstanding contribution to the School Chapter and our union through activism in a specific area.
Do you have a colleague you would like to nominate for the Judith Cooper Award? If so please visit www.qieu.asn.au/ntconference2011 to download a nomination form.
Recognise, Reclassify and Reward School Support Staff The Recognise, Reclassify and Reward campaign for School Support Staff in Northern Territory (NT) Catholic Schools is underway. IEUA-QNT members recently partook in a survey to help determine the current status of their position descriptions. One of the main purposes of the campaign is to achieve fair recognition and reward through updated position descriptions. Members will continue to receive reclassification training in the near term, to ensure remuneration is just and appropriate. School officers have a right to an accurate position description which recognises their skills, professionalism and contribution to quality education in our schools. Position descriptions need to be updated to provide greater clarity around the duties and responsibilities for school officers and most importantly recognise and reward the diverse range of skills and knowledge that school officers bring to their positions. For too long many school support staff have suffered inaccurate classification of their position due to the inadequacies of their position descriptions and have thence suffered from a lack of recognition in the classification level of their valuable skills and contribution to the education of students. This whole of union campaign can ensure school support staff achieve a just and fair recognition and reward for their contribution to NT Catholic schools schools. NT Organiser Camille Furtado will be conducting training in Term Three.
JOIN YOUR UNION TODAY Help build collective strength and enhance the working rights and conditions of all education professionals working in the Northern Territory. To join IEUA-QNT, download a membership form from www.qieu.asn.au/joinnt or call our Darwin office on FREECALL 1800 351 996
ISSN: 1834-5190 The Northern Voice was prepared by Belinda Hogan-Collis and Nick Holliday Editor: Mr Terry Burke, Branch Secretary IEUA-QNT PO BOX 418, FORTITUDE VALLEY QLD 4006 PH: 1800 351 996 FX: (07) 3839 7021 Email: enquiries@qieu.asn.au Website:www.qieu.asn.au/nt.html ABN: 74 662 601 045
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P RACTICAL P EDAGOGY 2011 Northern Territory Professional Issues Conference
REGISTRATION FORM
Saturday, 6 August 2011 - Registration from 8:30am - Novotel Darwin Atrium, 100 Esplanade, Darwin * One delegate per registration form. Please photocopy extra forms. * Please print your details clearly. Registration to be completed by FRIDAY 22 JULY 2011
CONTACT DETAILS: TITLE:
FIRST NAME:
LAST NAME:
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... SCHOOL/ORGANISATION: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... HOME POSTAL ADDRESS: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... SCHOOL POSTAL ADDRESS: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... PHONE: EMAIL: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... DIETARY REQUIREMENTS: ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION ONLY: Cost includes morning tea and lunch IEUA-QNT or AEU MEMBER:
$140 (including GST)
IEUA-QNT Membership Number: ___________________
NON-MEMBER:
$195 (including GST)
AEU Membership Number: ___________________
CONFERENCE AND DINNER REGISTRATION (for IEUA-QNT members and partners only) IEUA-QNT MEMBER DINNER PARTNER
$190 (including GST)
$50 (including GST)
SESSION PREFERENCES: (Please tick your preferred workshop for Session Two) Developing Early Literacy
Science, the Australian Curriculum and Ways of Learning
PAYMENT DETAILS I AUTHORISE PAYMENT OF $ Cheque
____________________
Bank Direct Deposit/EFT
Credit Card
(Please ďŹ ll in details below)
Cheques payable to the Independent Education Union of Australia - Queensland & Northern Territory Branch or IEUA-QNT Bank Direct Deposit/EFT Account Name
Independent Education Union of Australia - Queensland and Northern Territory Branch or IEUA-QNT
BSB
034 086
Account Number Reference:
21 1540 Please use both your IEUA-QNT or AEU membership number and full name
Credit Card:
Mastercard
Card Number:
____
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Visa ____ ____
Expiry Date: _ _ / _ _ _ _
Cardholders Name: ____________________________________________________________ Signature: ____________________________________________________________________
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Please forward this registration form with payment to: IEUA-QNT (QIEU) Reply Paid 418 Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 Phone: (07) 3839 7020 Fax: (07) 3839 7021 Email: enquiries@qieu.asn.au