EdU
Vol 29 Issue 3 Dec 2014
Independent Education Union South Australia Working with members in non-government schools 2014 30 Years Supporting staff in non-government education
Our credit card offers more to love than first impressions.
Many credit cards out there try to seduce you with an introductory, low interest offer on balances transferred. But as soon as you make a purchase beyond that, reality bites and you are charged the full rate.
• • • •
Our Credit Union SA Visa Card is different. You get a very attractive rate of 4.99% p.a.^ for everything – the balance you transfer, cash advances and any retail purchases you make – all during the first 6 months.
The Credit Union SA Visa Credit Card. With so many great features, you’ll find it hard to part with.
You will also enjoy: • NO Application Fee • NO Annual Fee in first year (only $10 p.a. in subsequent years)
Up to 55 days interest free Fast payments, with Visa payWave Make payments online, by phone or in branch Interest reverts to a highly competitive 10.49% p.a. variable rate after 6 months
Call 8202 7777, visit your nearest branch or creditunionsa.com.au
^Rate reverts to 10.49% p.a. variable rate after 6 month introductory period. Interest rates current as at 20 May 2014 and are subject to change. Membership & Lending criteria, Fees & Charges and Terms & Conditions apply and are available upon request. The Terms & Conditions contain information that will assist you to compare products and help you to decide whether to acquire the product. The Customer Owned Banking Code of Practice applies. Credit Union SA Ltd ABN 36 087 651 232 | AFSL/Australian Credit Licence Number 241066. 400 King William Street, Adelaide SA 5000. Silver Medal Low Rate Credit Card - Mozo Experts Choice Awards 2014. WINNER Cheapest Credit Card (Non Bank) & Cheapest Balance Transfer Credit Card (Non Bank) - Money Magazine Best of the Best Awards 2012, 2011, & 2010.
Contents Secretorial: Collective Consciousness 4
ISSN 1448–3637 Published by Independent Education Union South Australia
Four Year Modern Award Review 6
EdU is published four times a year and has a circulation of approximately 4000. Enquiries regarding circulation should be directed to the Communications Officer on (08) 8410 0122.
Crippling Unions 5 Catholic EA: Bargaining 2015 7 Lutheran Digest: Lutheran Schools - hard times or hard nosed? 8 Changes at the Teachers Registration Board 8
25th Anniversary of ANGEE The De-”T”-ification of ATIS 10 Budget 2014-15: What was there for Catholic and Independent Schools? 12 Impacts of the 2014-15 Federal Budget measures on South Australia 13 Balancing Act: Flexible working arrangements 14 Quality Education for Students With Disabilities 16
IEU Photography Awards 2014 18
“New” Workcover a mixed bag for injured workers 20 Anna Stewart Memorial Project 2014 21
ANZELA Conference 2014 22 The SACE Board and Institute of Educational Assessors 24 Top 5 Causes of Workplace Stress 25 Absolutely Super: How will your income stream look? 26
Safe@Work Safer Schools 2014-2015 27
Editorial comment is the responsibility of Glen Seidel, Secretary. Advertising Disclaimer Advertising is carried in EdU in order to minimise costs to members. Members are advised that advertising that appears in EdU does not in any way reflect any endorsement or otherwise of the advertised products and/or services by the Independent Education Union (SA). Intending advertisers should phone (08) 8410 0122. IEU(SA) Executive Members President, Jenny Gilchrist (Prince Alfred College) Secretary, Glen Seidel Vice President, Noel Karcher (Christian Brothers College) Vice President, Anthony Haskell (Saint Ignatius’ College) Treasurer, Val Reinke (Nazareth College) Priscilla Corbell (Pedare Christian College) John Coop (Rostrevor College) Michael Francis (Mercedes College) David Freeman (Walford Anglican School for Girls) Anthony Haskell (Saint Ignatius’ College) Sheryl Hoffmann (Concordia College) Fil Isles (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College) Marlene Maney (Cardijn College)
Pay Equity Early Childhood Equal Remuneration Case 28
IEU Reps Conference 2015: Contemporary Challenges 28 United Nations World Conference on Indigenous People 29
World Teachers Day 30 IEU Professional Development ...for Reps 31 Non Teaching Member Guide 31
What’s your problem? Right of Entry to Staff Room 33 Member Information 34
Member Update Form 35
Independent Education Union South Australia 213–215 Currie Street Adelaide SA 5000 Phone (08) 8410 0122 Fax (08) 8410 0282 Country callers 1800 634 815 enquiries@ieusa.org.au www.ieusa.org.au www.facebook.com/IEUSA www.twitter.com/IEU_SA
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
Secretorial Collective Consciousness No I am not going Jungian on you! Carl Jung was on about the collective UNconscious. I am talking about a front-of-mind, active philosophy that defines the culture of what it means to be Union. This was amply demonstrated in our most significant case of 2014 – the St Peters Lunch Dispute. When industrial matters arise in a workplace, they will gain maximum traction when widely felt and deeply felt by the membership. People will generally adopt a strong and principled position when there is a perceived breach of fairness, good faith or entitlement. When there is determination to challenge a workplace issue, that is when the true value and power of collectivism can be realised. When the St Peter’s College Branch sought the assistance of their Union in challenging the decision of their employer to remove a long standing benefit, of course the support of the Union was provided. That support started off as listening to member concerns and offering advice as to legalities and the pros and cons of various approaches. It then escalated to seeking legal advice and taking the issue up with management as a grievance under the enterprise agreement. By the time that had escalated to technical arguments in the Fair Work Commission, both sides had engaged lawyers and after a year both sides were still deadlocked. The staff had a strong and arguable case that references to the provision of lunches was both a contractual and an enterprise agreement entitlement. Lower pay rises had been agreed on the basis of this very tangible benefit. No compensation for this loss was initially offered. Management relied on managerial prerogative as the authority to unilaterally rescind the entitlement. The parties were then on track for a five day trial seeking an arbitrated decision. One final attempt at conciliation saw the employer brief a QC which of course meant that we needed to match fire power.
4
We had 15 members giving evidence over six days and even then our evidence was not completed. Those members were extensively examined and cross-examined by two prominent QCs. Not only that, but Headmaster was present listening carefully to their every word. They did a magnificent job telling their stories. At this stage an acceptable offer for settlement was eventually put to us and we were able sign off on a confidential deed and discontinue the case.
Glen Seidel Secretary The witnesses walked away with heads held high and grins ring-barking their faces. We did not have the pleasure of seeing Headmaster in the witness box. We did not get the satisfaction of a public judgment, but those members are winners. Their courage and steadfastness under pressure were commendable. The many long hours of case preparation put in by our legal team of Michael Ats and Michael Abbott QC, our Industrial Officer Frank Bernardi and our St Peter’s Organiser Anne Edwards as well as by the member witnesses ended up bearing fruit. Of course none of this expense need have been incurred by either side if there had been genuine consultation over the issue in the first place. I am sure the school didn’t enjoy the publicity via press, radio, TV and more importantly by word of mouth throughout the education community. The school underestimated the response of the staff and the level of support the IEU would provide to a Branch which was strong and whose members were willing to take a personal stand for a group issue. When a collective acts as a collective, stays the distance as a collective and has the expertise and resources of their union behind them even the most intimidating of adversaries can be held to account. The IEU doesn’t blink when the troops are united in a just cause. However, dry intellectual arguments at a negotiating table or in a commission can only go so far when the troops are missing in action. St Peters is not a one-off. There is at least one other un-named school where a strong collective approach is very seriously challenging a most intimidating adversary. There are other schools where members complain of managerial tyranny of one variety or another. Even the most daunting of situations can be tackled when you have the collective consciousness to take a stand with the support of your union’s expertise and resources.
Wishing you a very collective festive season.
G. Seidel EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
CRIPPLING UNIONS Edited Address by ACTU Assistant Secretary Tim Lyons to Chifley Research Centre 29 October 2014, Melbourne employees, with no job security and no right to paid leave, even when they get sick. A worker is seriously injured or killed every six minutes in the industries the CFMEU covers. Questions asked in the Commission seem to reflect an assumption that there is an inherent conflict in union involvement in superannuation funds. From the late 1970’s Unions, led by the ACTU pushed for a universal, fully vested and portable superannuation as an economic right, and as deferred wages – that is, workers’ money. The Heydon Royal Commission into Trade Unions, like its predecessors, is a deeply, irrevocably political exercise. Strong unions increase the share of national prosperity flowing to labour, and organised workers are a powerful social force in support of policies like progressive taxation and the provision of public services from that tax revenue including public healthcare and education. Counsel Assisting is openly contemptuous of the idea that people might do something out of solidarity. In the absence of understanding solidarity, the Commission views conduct through the prism of competition law; cartels and collusion. One thing that unions have always tried to do is to take wages and conditions out of competition. Ideally, this means firms compete on the basis of service, innovation and productivity and not on the basis of labour costs. Much of the underlying approach of the Commission is informed by an assumption that collective power, union power, is de-facto illegitimate, to be tolerated at the margins, if at all. But, unionism is inherently about power. Weber’s definition of power is as good as any: “power is the ability to get your way even in the face of opposition”. Workers are entitled to a measure of power of their work and therefore over their lives. That informs nearly everything we do. When people decry union power, what they actually mean is that workers should never have their view prevail over their employer’s, and have no real voice against capital in politics. More than half of women experience discrimination during pregnancy, parental leave or when returning to work. Forty percent of the Australian workforce is employed in insecure work. One in four Australian employees – over two million workers – are casual
Until then, superannuation in the private sector was the preserve of elites – coverage was less than 40% of workers and largely limited to higher paid, white collar managerial staff. Superannuation was not given, it was won. Won on the job, often by bitter disputation and spread through the Award system in often hotly contested arbitrations (and completed more than a decade later via legislation). And it took power to win it. Unions are collective, industrial, campaigning, political organisations of workers. Fierce debates exist within the union movement about how best to organise, and how best to bargain. The debates are fought out in political contests of ideas, including through contested elections. Unions are part of the natural order of things. But in Australia, collective action is collusion, it’s coercion, it’s unfair and an illegitimate exception to what is otherwise the operation of the law. Establishing this Royal Commission was part of a State and Federal conservative agenda which includes legislation restricting or removing rights in relation to organising, industrial action, right of entry, public campaigning, political action and expenditure, litigation, access to arbitration and the right to be selfgoverning. An agenda that would undermine collective bargaining, further restrict the right to strike, and functionally remove organising rights in workplaces. The agenda is aimed at making unions weaker, poorer, and slower; and ultimately, making us less effective and less appealing to members. A union is not a law firm, an advisory service, a help-desk or a labour inspectorate like the Fair Work Ombudsman (although we regularly perform some of those roles along the way). It is not about “insurance” or “services”. We are about building permanent institutions that are capable of changing workers lives, and our country for the better. And we will not be distracted by this Royal Commission. EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
5
Four Year Modern Award Review The Fair Work Commission is undertaking a comprehensive review of all awards. Alongside the Federal Government’s nascent legislative wind-back of employee conditions, this is the most significant federal industrial issue in the immediate future. Since their inception in 2010, the awards have already been subject to one review. However, this ‘four year’ review has a considerably wider scope. Any interested party (not necessarily limited to employers and unions) may make an application to vary an award as part of the review process. However, such variations are subject to the applicant bearing the full evidentiary onus for change. This is important as the awards were not made using this process but rather a bastardised first award principles exercise representing an amalgam of established (pre2009) federal rates of pay and conditions and the outcome of negotiations between industry parties.
Modern Awards: Foundational underpinnings It is worth noting at this point that the extent to which the review affects members in a particular branch is directly related to the number of members in a branch who are award-dependent. The existence of wide spread bargaining in the Independent and Catholic sector will limit some consequences of the review. However, all IEU Branches are cognizant of the impact that reducing underpinning award conditions would have on employer bargaining positions in collective negotiations.
Process for the Review The Commission has determined the process for the Review. Some matters ‘common’ to most awards have been identified and are being heard separately. These are: • Annual leave • Apprentice conditions • Part-time work • Transitional rates and conditions and • Casual employment.
Some idea of the scope of the Review can be gained from the fact that a full bench of the Commission has spent some months hearing various aspects of the annual leave matter alone. Federal employer groups have made five applications to vary all awards in respect to: the cashing out of annual leave; excessive annual leave; annual close down; granting leave in advance and continuing to pay employees by EFT during annual leave. The ACTU in turn, on behalf of affiliates, has made an application to ensure employees were paid out annual leave loading on termination. The individual award stage of the review is itself divided into stages. The award covering employees in postsecondary education (eg ELICOS) and the award covering schools’ general staff are grouped together in stage three, which is scheduled to commence soon The Teachers Award, due mostly to the fact of the proceedings in the Early Childhood Equal Remuneration case, will be reviewed later next year in stage four. The process in each stage begins with the industry parties outlining any concerns they have about the operation of the awards and mooted applications for variation thereto. The parties then participate in a series of conferences chaired by the Commission prior to the making of any substantive applications to vary by the industry parties, the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Commission itself or any other party with a demonstrated interest. The IEU Industrial Committee is co-coordinating a consultation process with the IEU Branches to identify issues to be addressed by the Modern Award Review. The Industrial Committee continues to meet to collate these issues and develop relevant positions in relation to these identified issues as well as to counter any positions put forward by the employer groups.
IEU Guide to Flexible Work Arrangements Education and training of employers and employees on stereotyping and unconscious bias is another important process in changing workplace culture. As such, the IEU Women’s and Equity Committee developed the IEU Guide to Flexible Work Arrangements to assist members and employers in implementing flexible working arrangements in their workplace by explaining eligibility and the process of application. Armed with this information, members and employers can take the important step towards eliminating ignorance, misunderstandings and ill informed prejudices. A copy of the guide can be located at www.ieu.org.au
6
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
Catholic EA Bargaining 2015 Frank Bernardi Industrial Officer At the time of writing this article the Catholic teacher workload survey had only recently closed and analysis of the collated data has just commenced in preparation for a new log of claims. With Enterprise Agreement negotiations to begin in late February 2015 now is a salient point at which to stop and reflect on how Catholic employers are approaching EA negotiations in other parts of Australia - Tasmania, New South Wales and ACT - where negotiations for replacement documents have commenced or been underway for some time. Unfortunately this year has seen ‘action’ aplenty, which is a curious thing given Catholic school employees are not the most radical of unionists. They will almost always put the students before themselves, even to their own and the profession’s detriment. A point well understood by the employers. It takes much to provoke them. So what have employers done to raise the ire of members in these states and territory to such a degree that it has evoked an unparalleled wave of industrial action? In the first instance the employers were painfully slow in responding to attempts at organising negotiation meetings. This is despite it being well known in advance that such negotiations were not only imminent but also required. This was then followed by further delays when responding to claims. Hence a slow start and an even slower process built a small fire of frustration and anger. The next crucial step was to throw petrol onto that fire by responding to a log of claims with a draft replacement Enterprise Agreement that includes what the employer wants (which includes the removal of many existing conditions), mostly ignores what the employees want and then expects to use that document as a start point for negotiations. The result - a predictable explosion. No rocket science involved here. In Tasmania IEU members felt compelled to hold their first ever 24 hour stop work action, in August this year, having held shorter stop work meetings earlier in the year to warn the employer away from such a position.
The Tasmanian Catholic Education Office (TCEO) presented a draft Enterprise Agreement that among other things – • increases teacher workload via extra days attendance and what constitutes instructional load • gives the employer the capacity to reduce part time school assistants hours by reducing the length of their school year. • removes teacher classification and progression through increments • provides a new formula which reduces redundancy payments • removes almost all references to the Union where it currently plays a role assisting staff. TCEO then abandoned negotiations and put their proposed Enterprise Agreement out to vote. Seventy-seven percent of votes were to reject the employer agreement. Likewise the Catholic systemic employers in NSW/ ACT created a similar level of disappointment, frustration and anger that also resulted, predictably, in stop work meetings. Once negotiations commenced the Employer representative, The Catholic Commission for Employment Relations (CCER), presented a draft Enterprise Agreement in response to the IEU log of claims that included – • significant reduction in rates of pay and conditions for both new and many existing support staff - including removal of automatic annual progression and removal of permanency provisions for school assistants • abolition of existing promotions positions, including related entitlements such as a guaranteed minimum number of positions and release time • deregulation of teacher conditions, including face to face teaching hours, removal of lunch breaks, etc Industrial action prompted the employer to rethink its position and undertake to abandon controversial elements of their proposed enterprise agreement. On that basis the IEU re-entered negotiations but progress has been painfully slow & the recently revised draft enterprise agreement supplied by the employer has simply repackaged, rather than remove, the offensive clauses that undermine current conditions and benefits. This has resulted in the IEU NSW/ACT foreshadowing further industrial action. While this in no way pre-empts what will occur in South Australian negotiations it would be negligent not to be aware of the strategies used by interstate Catholic employers. After all Catholic state and territory employers all belong to the same club.
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
7
Lutheran Digest Lutheran Schools hard times or hard nosed? Enterprise Agreements are evolving documents in the sense that each time employees sit down to negotiate a new one, as well as improvements in conditions in a range of areas such as leave entitlements, classification and workload, salary is a major component of the discussions.
Salaries clearly are important to employers because they form the most sizable component of their recurrent costs, but remuneration is a way of demonstrating the value they place on being able to recruit and retain competent, value adding staff. From the employees’ point of view, maintaining a salary level that is not only within the range for like employees (eg teachers or non-teaching staff) in their sector and state, it similarly conveys a sense of value and worth from the employer. While the bottom line for the employer is the budget, the bottom line for the employee is similarly their budget. Employees cannot afford to allow their salaries to be eroded by inflation. While it might be tempting for employers to offer an increase below CPI to employees, claiming hardship because of the usual range of reasons, ultimately, it makes better business sense to ‘keep up’ rather than ‘catch up’. The Lutheran employers in South Australia have put the argument to their employees that as the last pay rise had been in August 2013 and their Agreement had expired in May 2014 it was probably time for them to show a little unilateral largesse with a one percent increase to tide people over until DECD
Louise Firrell Assistant Secretary
negotiations eventually produce a new pay rate (who knows when). While DECD salaries are a scale that employers often refer to as a reference point, with the exception of the Catholic sector, few other schools have the same pay rates as DECD. Lutheran schools in SA have over the last few agreements, stated that they would try to ensure that their pay rates were somewhere in the vicinity of the DECD rates, but not matched - after all, staff do not work to DECD conditions. Lutheran schools in the Northern Territory have had similarly tough love recently with a new agreement taking a very long time to finalise, so while staff eventually managed to reach an agreement for a three percent increase, they had to wait 27 months with no increase. In Western Australia the Lutheran schools’ new Enterprise Agreement ‘rewarded’ staff with a 4.5 percent increase in February to keep pace with the State school rate, but the agreement has not been registered because the IEU has unresolved issues about teacher classifications. One of which is a salary loading for teachers who achieve HAT and Lead accreditation, despite there not being any mechanism in WA at this point to achieve it. Staff in Queensland and Victorian schools have Agreements in place and are not in bargaining periods. It seems that for some reason SA and NT schools have fallen on hard times. Teachers and LSOs are no doubt wondering what that says about the LSA’s regard for their most valuable resource.
Changes at the Teachers Registration Board
Wendy Hastings retired from the position of Registrar of the Teachers Registration Board SA, last term, the position which she held since her appointment in 1995. Prior to this Ms Hastings held the positions of Teacher, School Principal, Staffing Officer, Manager Teacher Recruitment and Senior Policy Officer in the Department of Education and Children’s Services, South Australia. Wendy has served the teaching profession well during that time and played a significant role exercising leadership in the implementation and evaluation of legislation and procedures and processes in relation to teacher registration.
She represented the Teachers Registration Board of SA at the state, national and international level in relation to the regulation of teachers and the promotion of the teaching profession and represented Australia on the British Commonwealth Teacher Qualifications and Professional Registration Steering Group. She was also a foundation member of the International Forum of Teacher Regulatory Authorities established in 2005 to promote the teaching profession at an international level. Wendy will be missed, but we wish her well in whatever new ventures she embarks on!
8
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
What does inflation do to your pay increase? While one percent seems miserly, employees might imagine a pay rate graph as being flat until October 2014 and then jump up one percent and continuing flat to the horizon. But what happens in reality is the spending power of that salary is being continually eroded by inflation. Adelaide’s CPI had been tracking either side of three percent but has lately reduced to be about 0.4 percent per quarter. Even at that projected low rate one can see the Lutheran one percent doesn’t make good for inflationary losses. Wages haven’t flat-lined. Wages are sliding away and the longer it takes to restore the spending power (let
alone increase it) the more dramatic the change will need to be and the bigger the loss that needs to be made up.
While the pay offer is unacceptable, members in Lutheran schools have been offended by the LSAs tardiness in sitting down to negotiate. The one percent offer was a unilateral decision by the LSA that has put off negotiating in a timely manner for a year. The employee log of claims was served in December 2013, they did not issue representational notices until early November 2014. We hope that the LSA is not making tardiness one of its New Year resolutions again for 2015.
Effective Lutheran PayPay Rates Effective Lutheran Rates spending power in $ 2013 100.5 100.0 99.5 99.0 98.5 98.0 97.5 97.0 96.5 96.0 95.5 95.0 Sept 13 Dec 13 Mar 14 June 14 Sept 14 Dec 14 Mar 15 June 15 Sept 15 Dec 15
Welcome to Dr Peter Lind
Wendy’s role has been filled by Dr Peter Lind. Dr Lind has worked as a primary teacher and principal and lectured in physical education. He held the positions of Director of Teacher Education at Massey University and most recently the Director of the New Zealand Teachers Council. Dr Lind will be speaking at our IEUSA Representatives conference on the 2nd March 2015.
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
9
25th Anniversary of ANGEE - The de-“T”-ification of ATIS As much as the IEU in SA celebrated its 30th birthday in 2014, this year marks an anniversary of a significant shift in our public profile. In 1989 ATIS (the Association of Teachers in Independent Schools) said to the world that it stood for the industrial and professional interests of all who work in our schools – not just the teachers. ATIS formally became ANGEE – the Association of Non Government Education Employees and the “T” was gone. It is not that employees other than teachers suddenly became eligible to become members. We had non-teacher members all along and had in the first year managed to get a first award approved for School Assistants. Twenty-five years ago it was time to recognise that in a name change, just as a bit later the “A” for Association was dropped in favor of the “U” of Union when we became the Independent Education Union (SA). On 25 September we celebrated this gestalt shift with a dinner and the launch of an online guide for non-teacher members. Gerry Conley introduced and demonstrated the guide and then our keynote speaker, Kerry Cue entertained us with anecdotes and observations which resonated well with the audience. Kerry was no stranger to our members as she had similarly regaled members at an ESO conference some years ago. A very convivial time was had by all.
Pictured left: Kerry Cue. Below and Right. IEUSA Staff, IEUSA Executive, Life Members and non teacher members enjoying the celebration at The Rockford, Hindley St. Adelaide.
10
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
11
Budget 2014-15
What Was There For Catholic and Independent Schools? While the Federal Government has made a commitment to continue to fund the Australian Education Act arrangements from 2014 – 2017 for all schools in all states and territories; this does not actually mean security for our schools. The Education Act provides for a funding model comprised of a core funding amount for every student (called the School Resource Standard) and additional loadings for indigenous students, school size and location, remote and rural, English language proficiency loading and an interim (Status Quo) disability loading. The new funding model is significantly different to that envisaged by the Gonski Funding Review panel and is very complex. The eventual roll-out of the funding arrangements and the manner in which it was agreed to by States and non-government employers basically meant that a variety of funding arrangements came into existence. The new funding model was originally intended to include a transition period of six years from 2014 to 2019 to enable 90 percent of the implementation of the new model to be achieved. The bulk of the additional funding would be available to schools in the last two years of transition. However, the Coalition Government has only committed to the first four years of funding 2014-2017.
Hence it is unlikely that the majority of schools will ever receive the greater part of the additional funding under the new funding model. It is now a concern that funding arrangements beyond 2017 will not meet the needs of schools and students in our sector.
Indexation after 2017 The Federal Government has made the decision in its recent Budget to use CPI as the basis for school funding indexation after 2017. The IEU has lobbied against the use of CPI for indexation throughout the formation of the Gonski Report. Education has its own inflation index, which is directly impacted upon by Federal and State Government educational initiatives, teacher salaries and access to technologies to support learning. For the past 10 years, CPI has been around half the rate of education inflation. The Federal Government Budget has simplistically ignored this fact. The consequences of using a CPI index of around 2.5 percent will be a significant funding shortfall in real terms with a flow on effect to wage and salary increases.
RENEWAL OF TEACHER REGISTRATION Does your teacher registration expire in January 2015, if so you will need to lodge an application to renew your registration by 31 DECEMBER 2014 An application to renew your registration will be sent by post in late October 2014. To be registered as a teacher in South Australia you must apply to renew your registration by the due date. If you have not received an application to renew your registration by 30 November 2014, please contact the Teachers Registration Board on 8226 8811 as non receipt of an application to renew is not an acceptable reason for allowing your registration to expire. Change of address and/or name Change of Address details must be provided in writing via: Email - renewal@trb.sa.edu.au / Post - PO Box 3649, Rundle Mall SA 5000 Change of Name details must be provided in writing with a certified copy of a marriage certificate, decree nisi, or deed poll via: Post - PO Box 3649, Rundle Mall SA 5000 (Faxed copies will not be accepted).
12
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
Impacts of the 2014-15 Federal Budget measures on South Australia
$
Research commissioned by the SA government has analysed the effects of 2014-15 Federal budget on SA with reference to its particular social and economic makeup. The University of Adelaide report can be found at www.adelaide.edu.au/wiser and summarises the effects on education as: • Needs-based schools funding under the Gonski Better Schools Plan has been renounced and replaced with CPI indexing after 2017 - noting it was the post-2017 period that was to have seen the major expenditures in reducing disparities in school student funding. This is a particular problem for South Australia which has a higher-than-national average proportion of disadvantaged and vulnerable students. • Stakeholders across the public, independent and Catholic schooling systems express a high level of concern that reductions in expected Federal Budget outlays to schools over the next four years will significantly impede the realisation of the Gonski education reforms designed to improve educational outcomes in Australian schools. • This will have direct impacts on the capacity of schools to provide different forms of specialist assistance to the substantial number of students who would benefit from more intensive support along with teacher capacity and capability building. • Under the 2014-15 budget proposals, any increase in funding through the Gonski model will now be cancelled out by the funding reduction to the National Partnership Payments. • The broader impact of the new model was to become evident in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 forward estimates. However, this will no longer be realised. • The projected total reduction in funding over 20182020 is $2.7 billion in government schools, while non-government schools will lose $1.2 billion over the same period – in South Australia, the funding reduction amounts to $335 million across the two years (assuming the CPI increase will amount to 2.5%).
The Australian Education Act 2013 will be amended to “reduce regulatory burden and ensure states and territories remain responsible for schools and nongovernment schools maintain their independence and autonomy”. Significant changes are outside the forward estimates but include: • The cessation of funding under the National Education Reform Agreement (NERA) for the final two years of the agreement (from 2018) accounting for $258 million in South Australia; and a reduced indexation commitment from 4.7% to CPI (currently estimated at 2.5%) equating to a reduction in $77 million over the two years in South Australia. • The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership will have reduced funding with savings of $19.9 million over five years from 2013-14. • The Centre for Quality Teaching and Learning will be ceased with savings of $21.0 million over five years. • Discontinued development of the Australian Baccalaureate with savings of $9.6 million over four years from 2014-15. • The Online Diagnostic Tools Programme will be ceased with savings of $38.4 million over five years from 2013-14. • Child care funding will be reduced or redirected from the following programs: • Child Care Early Learning Projects saving $14.7 million over four years from 2014-15 • Inclusion and Professional Support Programme with savings of $12 million over two years from 2016-17 • $3.7 million over three years from 2015-16 by suspending funding for professional development of staff in Budget Based Funded child care services • $3.6 million over two years from 2014-15 by terminating the Child Care Accessibility Fund • $3.1 million over four years from 2014-15 through a reduction in funding for the Stronger Quality Element of the Child Care Services Support Programme • $1.2 million over two years from 2013-14 through efficiencies in the National Career Development Programme; and • $1.0 million in 2014-15 by restricting access to the Recognition of Prior Learning Programme to non-long day care child care staff in that year. • Child Care: Community Support Programme will have tightened eligibility criteria from 2015-16 with savings of $157.1 million over three years.
Australian Workplace Innovation and Social Research Centre (WISeR). 2014. Impacts of the 2014-15 Federal Budget measures on South Australia. Adelaide: WIseR, The University of Adelaide. www.adelaide.edu.au/wiser EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
13
Balancing Act Flexible working arrangements
not just to support mums, dads and bubs (although that’s important)
How often have you heard a colleague say (or said to yourself) ‘I love my job, especially the kids, but I would just love to have a bit more time to do other things….’ Ros McLennan, former Assistant Secretary of QIEU summed this up nicely in her introduction to a summary of flexible working arrangements accessible to non-government school staff in various industrial instruments in Queensland
‘Quality education, great teaching and learning outcomes, positive school culture and support for the profession are all best supported by flexible work arrangements that are readily available to experienced teachers and school staff.’ In relation to superannuation we have become accustomed to the term ‘transition to retirement’ but it is not a term that has yet become translated comfortably into the lexicon of many school employers. A number of years ago the IEU began a campaign called ‘Be Bolder’ which was aimed at educating members and employers on the topic of age discrimination. Unfortunately this campaign was not developed to its full extent because it was overshadowed by the federal political issues of the day, but it was designed to help raise awareness of the value of older employees in the workforce, recognise their specific issues and needs and alert all parties to the state and federal anti-discrimination laws that had been in place for over twenty years. It’s time to start talking about those issues again as the average age of the teaching as well as other staff in schools continues to rise.
14
We have been having the conversation for quite some time now about the right to flexible working arrangements, but so far the ‘right to request’ is the best unions have managed for their members, but we won’t give up. We need to continue to push for the ‘right to have’ flexible arrangements, not just for working mums and dads with bubs but for the workforce as a whole. We need to change the view by employers that an employee has to be full time if they are serious about their profession or their job.
Louise Firrell Assistant Secretary What’s in it for the school? • facilitating late-phase teachers and school staff to work longer while in good health, thereby gaining benefit from teacher expertise and staff experience; creating full time positions for others, where two late phase teachers or school staff voluntarily elect to access part time working hours; • lower wages costs, as teachers and school staff on the highest classification levels are replaced by beginning educators and new school staff; • making it easier for late-phase teachers and school staff to plan their retirement (and take up later as personal desire and finances permit) • modelling values of respect and dignity to students and the wider community • becoming an ‘employer of choice’ for highly qualified and experienced staff • securing increased staff commitment where their work is demonstrably valued and appreciated • retaining the positive ‘continuity of culture’ that has seen our schools succeed, whilst regenerating the profession and staff by supporting young people in taking up some newly available positions What’s in it for staff? The establishment of better flexible work arrangements provisions for eligible teachers and school staff to transition to retirement assists them to: • carry out sustainable career management more successfully; • reduce stress at work; • manage work loads better; • allows time to plan for the future; • rediscover enthusiasm for favourite teaching areas; • realise job satisfaction, where experience and time are better aligned; and • choosing to mentor beginning educators and school staff, further supporting the profession. EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
While working with children is considered by most of the profession as a ‘vocation’ it is still the means by which we earn a living. Work should meet that need and be fulfilling but not at the expense of family and society as a whole. Employer and employee in an ideal world should be a mutually beneficial partnership. An employee who has time to do things other than being solely engaged in the workplace is able to be a better citizen and contributor to society as a whole, and in turn this benefits the students they teach. Schools particularly should be mindful of this because children and families are their core business. Currently, under the National Employment Standards (NES), employees have the right to request flexible working arrangements to assist employees meet the needs of children under school age or under 18 if the child has a disability, if they have completed at least 12 months continuous service with their employer immediately before making the request. A request for flexible working arrangements must be made in writing and set out the details and reasons for the changes sought. Employers are required to respond to the request in writing within 21 days and may only
refuse the request on reasonable business grounds. However, ‘reasonable business grounds’ is frequently a contestable issue and in any event this is not likely to be of any particular help to an employee seeking to set up transition to retirement arrangements. The Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2010, the Educational Services (General Staff) Award 2010 and Enterprise Agreements made under the Fair Work Act, contain Award Flexibility clauses which enable employers and employees to enter into a mutually agreeable arrangement to vary any or all of the following conditions of employment: when work is performed, allowances paid, leave loading, and overtime and penalty rates. This does provide the mechanism for employees to request, but not the right to have. To provide more certainty, Enterprise Agreements in the future will need to contain clauses that specifically define rights in relation to access to flexible arrangements for transition to retirement. These like all other entitlements will have to be argued for at the negotiating table backed up by strong membership and support in the workplace.
Join the thousands of teachers who’ve already made the switch. Teachers Health Fund is Australia’s largest industry-based health fund with over 60 years’ experience in serving the education community, providing great value health cover to 270,000 lives nationwide. See how we compare with some of the major health funds in South Australia: HEALTH FUNDS
COVER
MONTHLY SWITCH TO TEACHERS HEALTH CONTRIBUTION FUND AND START SAVING
Teachers Health Fund
Top Hospital + Top Extras
$337.50
Monthly savings Annual savings
Medibank Private
Top Hospital + Top Extras 70
$380.77
$43.27
$519.26
Bupa
Top Hospital + Gold Extras
$413.06
$75.56
$906.70
NIB
Top Cover
$493.77
$156.27
$1,875.22
AHM
Top Hospital + Super Extras
$457.69
$120.19
$1,442.30
Compare, switch and save at TeachersHealth.com.au/compare Call Sue Brenkley on 0458 019 850 sue.brenkley@teachershealth.com.au Eligibilty criteria and conditions apply. Contributions are quoted for family and include no Lifetime Health Cover loading and include the 29.04% Australian Government Rebate on Private Health Insurance. Rates are effective as at September 2014. See teachershealth.com.au for details. Teachers Federation Health Ltd ABN 86 097 030 414 trading as Teachers Health Fund. A Registered Private Health Insurer.
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
Our Students Need You
Quality Education
For Students With Disabilities
I Care . Do You? IEU members have been campaigning for the necessary additional Federal Government funds for the education of students with disabilities. In the two weeks prior to the release of the 2014 Federal Budget, IEU members lobbied Senators by sending thousands of postcards; urgently calling upon Senators to direct additional Federal Government Budget funding to students with disabilities.
Evidence and case studies provided by IEU members, parents and school communities to the Gonski school funding review panel unequivocally illustrated the significant unmet needs for students with disabilities in Australian schools.
The IEU campaign continues with IEU members emailing MPs directly through the IEU campaign website www.educationforall.com.au/swd and urging MPs to support increased funding for these students.
During this School Funding campaign, the IEU asked that:
Member lobby teams will be developed for visits to local MPs in the lead up to the 2015 budget.
Background Throughout 2010 and 2011, IEU members conducted a campaign for appropriate school funding. As part of this campaign, IEU members lobbied the panel reviewing school funding (the Gonski Panel) and politicians to ensure that the educational needs of students with disability would be more adequately resourced.
16
IEU members identified that greater funding was needed to meet the cost of specialist teachers and support staff; development of specialised programs and for access to specialised services.
“….the full costs of meeting the educational needs of students
with disabilities, as defined by the Disability Discrimination
Act (DDA) and assessed , should be funded by federal and state
governments regardless of whether the student attends a government or non-government school”.
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
The findings of the Gonski Review panel in December 2011 were no less equivocal and the panel made a number of recommendations to government that fully public funding apply equally to students with disabilities, irrespective of sector. “Unlike the schooling resource standard per student amounts and other loadings, the students with disability loading should be fully publicly funded as an entitlement, irrespective of the type of school the student attends or its school SES.” pg 184.
Governments Fail Students With Disabilities The previous and the current Federal Government have failed abjectly to act on this advice and as a consequence continue to fail not only the students with disabilities but also their families, their teachers and education support staff.
Successive Governments: Labor and LNP have failed to Fund Students with Disabilities Not only has the Federal Government failed to deliver on the expected increase in funding for students with disability in the Budget, they have also failed to extend the interim More Support for Students with Disability program. These funding inadequacies are a major barrier to the provision of essential resources, individual support and access to professional expertise. These are essential components in the provision of quality education to students with disabilities. The current level of funding for students with disabilities means that schools will continue to try subsidising the learning needs of students with disabilities from other sources of income.
Students with disabilities attending Catholic and Independent Schools remain significantly under-funded when compared with students with the same learning adjustment needs attending a government school.
Teachers and support staff will try to “make do” with already overstretched resources and many students with disabilities will continue to be denied the quality education which is their right.
Disturbingly the funding differential is greater for students with high-level support needs who may require, for example, a full-time aide or Auslan interpreter. The gap in funding for these students can be over $40,000 per student per year.
The IEUA continues to urge the development of a framework of teaching and learning resource standards for high quality teaching and learning conditions for students with disabilities with regard to:
Students with disability in Catholic and Independent schools also lose free access to a range of essential government services and resources such as physiotherapy, speech therapy and Braille texts.
What is Wrong with the Federal Government Funding for Students with Disabilities? The new Students with Disability (SWD) interim loading is deemed at 186 percent of base funding or Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). It is important to emphasise that this loading is not a measure of actual student needs. The Federal Government would have us believe that, for every school with a funded student with a disability, the full SWD interim loading would be received. For 2014, the SWD loading for primary and secondary students is notionally $17,244 and $22,679 respectively. However, for many schools, this SWD interim loading is to be phased in over the six year transitional period. Thus many Catholic and Independent schools do not even receive these amounts, which is inadequate as they are to meet the actual needs of the student. The fact is that in 2014 the SWD loadings for those schools below the SRS, would be less than $2,200 regardless of actual student needs. Schools who are above SRS would not receive any SWD loading for their students.
~ Early intervention support and programs ~ The appropriate levels of specialist teaching and support staff ~ Class sizes which allow optimum teaching and learning for integrated classes ~ Time release for curriculum and program modification and planning, and liaising with parents and external agencies ~ Adequate access to health and allied health professionals & services and ~ Access to appropriate and relevant professional development for staff. However, all of these require resources, or in unfashionable parlance, money.
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
17
IEU Photography Awards 2014
Continuing on with the Quality Education Campaign, IEU members submitted photographs that show Quality Education in Action as part of the “Quality Education: What we do, who we are” campaign. The awards presented an ideal opportunity to show the wider community the work that high quality teachers and support staff perform every day. An array of prizes were on offer, with the People’s Award being nominated at the IEU National Conference in Sydney. Tom Coultas from St Aloysius’ College took out the state first prize for “Enjoying speaking and technology” with Scott Johnstone from Willunga Waldorf School taking second prize for “Student Fire Performance”. Dr Kerrie Corcoran from South Coast Grammar school Qld, took out the national prize with “Learning Starts Young in Visual Art”.
Banner, Tom Goodwin “Sport at the beach” third place NSW/ACT; Above, Scott Johnston “Student fire performance” second place SA; Left, Kerrie Corcoran “Learning starts young in visual art” national winner.
18
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
Clockwise from top left: Liza Laird “Experience new perspectives” second place NSW/ACT; Belinda Stone “Finger fossils. Real learning” first place NSW/ ACT; Kathleen McLean “Educating for tomorrow” second place QLD/NT; Tom Coultas “Enjoy speaking and technology” first place SA; Denise Walker “Very smooth moves” first place QLD/NT. EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
19
“New” Workcover a mixed bag for injured workers The most significant industrial relations reform in over 25 years will come into effect from 1 July next year following the successful passage of the Return to Work Bill through Parliament. The new Return to Work scheme will replace the WorkCover scheme from 1 July 2015.
Psychological injury is our most common claim type and the IEU is also concerned about the way the new Act will treat people who suffer psychological injuries. The IEU believes that if you are injured at work, any injury should be treated the same and compensation should be paid.
The Return to Work Act has a strong focus on getting people back to work and a number of important new entitlements for injured workers are now in law. The Return to Work scheme will provide intensive case management right from the start, and injured workers will be intensively supported to return to employment, however, in achieving these new benefits for injured workers, the government has reduced some entitlements that go too far and too deep. The bottom line financial performance of Workcover has improved recently as a result of better management of the scheme so arguably the new system did not need to be as blunt.
The new Act finally scraps the failed changes of 2008 which not only resulted in fewer injured workers returning to their jobs, but a blow-out in the scheme’s unfunded liability.
The union movement has been negotiating with the State Government to amend the Bill since it was first introduced to Parliament in August. The rights of injured workers are one of the highest priorities for the union movement – the new Act incorporates all the improvements that we’ve been fighting for since 2008. These new and reintroduced rights for injured workers include: • Minimum wage protection • 100 percent wage for twelve months after injury
It is disappointing that the new Act embeds two classes of injured workers: those with 30 percent whole person impairment and those without. The threshold for injured workers to sue their employer, and receive benefits beyond two years, is too high. As a result of this extremely high threshold, most injured workers will now be paid benefits for only two years and only the most catastrophically injured workers will get lifetime support. Furthermore, the right to sue negligent employers is limited to far too few people. This may not prove to be a big enough stick to ensure employers don’t contribute to their workers being injured in the first place. The change in legislation will not affect the manner in which IEU members are supported during the work cover process. If you are injured at work contact the IEU to discuss the process we can assist you.
• payments of wages while in dispute over claims • abolition of medical panels These unfair medical panels were always a kangaroo court and as the union movement has always argued, a complete waste of money. Further new entitlements in the new Act include: • the rights of injured workers to insist on their employer providing them work – that is legally enforceable through the courts • new lump sum economic loss compensation of up to a maximum of $340,000 for people who suffer permanent injuries, which will be paid on top of all other entitlements • very seriously injured people will now have the right to sue their employer over the negligent action that caused their injury
20
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
From left: Nova Natasha Brown, Meridith Beauchamp, Sam Meridith Rombola, Sharon Holmes (Facilitator), Tyler, Rebecca Hutt,Holmes Marra Pearn, Trish Phillips, Sherryn Parker,Corbell, Insert: Rachele Tulio From left:Reinfeld-Kirkman, Nova Reinfeld-Kirkman, Natasha Brown, Beauchamp, SamPriscilla Rombola, Sharon (Facilitator), Priscilla
Rebecca Hutt, Marra Pearn, Trish Phillips, Sherryn Parker, Insert Rachele Tullio
ASMP
Anna Stewart Memorial Project 2014
The Anna Stewart Memorial Project is the ideal opportunity for women who want to further their knowledge about unionism within a collaborative and empowering environment. Two weeks of the ASMP created a new understanding of the history of unionism, the make-up of power and the strength of Anna Stewart – a champion of women’s equality issues within the workplace. This inspiring woman created new opportunities for women in the workforce which are taken for granted today. Learning about this amazing woman has given me a renewed vision of how to stay focussed on fairness in the workplace for all, but especially for those women who are disadvantaged by lack of the English language, by their economic constraints or by their unpredictable social conditions.
We would recommend the ASMP to women members. It is an affirming and wonderful experience of personal empowerment.
Priscilla Corbell Pedare Christian College, IEUSA Executive Member Rachele Tullio All Saints Catholic Primary School
One of the main highlights of the ASMP was meeting the female participants and trainers. We were privileged to spend the program with women from various employment backgrounds, including from ambulance and emergency services, police, aged care, disability, hospitality and manufacturing. Meeting these women was a very interesting and sometimes moving experience. Each one contributed their involvement with their respective union, revealing the diversity of unions and the commonality of shared values across industries. The many activities including having lunch with female MP’s at Parliament House and making site visits with the CEPU and the CFMEU were other stand out aspects of the program. Within this context, we joined Louise Firrell at the IEU to learn more about the day to day operation of our IEU and its Organisers and to see first hand how activism by the IEU team worked effectively.
Pictured from left: Rachele Tullio, Louise Firrell and Priscilla Corbell EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
21
ANZELA conference 2014 Walking the Tightrope – Getting the Balance Right: Issues and Challenges in Education Law Felicity Hickman Mt Barker Waldorf School IEU member The ANZELA conference was held in Adelaide from October 1st to the 3rd and my participation was made possible by support from the IEU. The organising committee headed by Tony Houey from Pembroke School had managed to secure some truly eminent keynote speakers and an array of workshop presenters with a wide range of professional experience and interests. Participants came from around Australia, New Zealand and more distant places – the Netherlands, South Africa and the USA. We work in/for schools, unions, legal firms, government departments, universities, regulatory bodies, Catholic Education Offices and Associations of Independent Schools. It was a really heart-warming experience when the first full day started with a welcome to country by Alitya Rigney who managed to get the whole assembly singing!
‘When one group is oppressed, another is advantaged’ This point, made by Robyn Layton in her keynote – “What, Racist? You Must be Joking!” – was reinforced by both Rosemary Owens and Mark McMillan. They focused respectively on Unpaid Work Experience such as ‘internships‘ (www.fairwork.gov.au/unpaidwork) and on the need for educators to understand the policies that have systematically disadvantaged indigenous Australians, and to work with Koori kids so that education provides a critical element in overcoming this disadvantage. Mark referred to education as the doorway to realising our hopes, and a similar metaphor was used by the Governor of South Australia Hieu Van Le. The most powerful part of Hieu Van Le’s presentation, for me, was when he described his long and harrowing journey by small boats from Vietnam to Darwin. On reaching Australian waters he and his fellow refugees were greeted by a fisherman in a ‘tinny’ as the small boat passed the larger one, the fisherman raised a stubby in salute, and called out ‘welcome to Australia!’. Sadly, to return to Robyn Layton’s presentation, research shows that racism in Australia is on the rise. Robyn shared many references, and encouraged teachers to check the materials available at www.racismnoway.com.au. She also spoke about the work of Reconciliation SA and in particular their Student Congress program which this year has included work with interactive theatre group Act Now (actnowtheatre.org.au).
22
Apart from the keynotes and the final panel session on Cyber Issues, sessions I attended included: • Child Protection Reforms: How do we Support the Teachers on the Tightrope? • Disability Standards for Education – Reasonable Adjustments – getting the balance right • Industrial Relations and Education - A Topical Discussion • Statutory Intervention when parent-elected trustees fail to govern effectively • Managing Complaints – Walking the Tightrope between Ignorance and Knowledge • Staffroom disputes, restorative justice and grievance management • The Activist Parent and the Disgruntled Student I was perversely reassured by the extent to which the courts have differed in interpreting the various pieces of legislation that underpin these topics. A great deal of fascinating research was shared including many case studies. With the benefit of hindsight, of course, we could all see how those involved - teachers, school leaders, parents, students - might have done things differently, but we all lead busy and complex lives and these difficult issues do have a way of taking on a life of their own, quickly developing from the flap of a butterfly’s wing into a tsunami. The IEU sent a large contingent to the conference, so I’m sure we will all hear much more about some of these issues in the coming months. There were however some consistent messages across most of the areas explored, which included: • Schools and school leaders must convey an attitude of welcoming concerns / complaints from staff, parents and students. • All teachers and school leaders need ongoing training to build the skills required for resolving conflicts, handling complaints, keeping appropriate records and making reasonable adjustments to meet students’ needs. • Schools must have clear policies and procedures which are readily accessible, regularly reviewed and followed by all staff. • Records must be kept - including meeting notes, emails and tests as well as incident reports, formal communications (eg agreed action plans) and Student Support Plans. • Courts will be supportive of school decisions when they are based on appropriate professional advice and research (including action research) and good records are kept. EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
It was fascinating to listen to the presentation by Chris Rowe and Shan Pather from the Education Review Office in New Zealand. It seems to me that their office, which is an independent government department (i.e. separate from the Ministry of Education) is very similar to our new EECSRSB. The ERO’s role is to evaluate and publicly report on the performance of schools and early childhood services, including both ‘integrated schools’ (which are fully government funded ‘special character’ schools with religious or other particular philosophical foundation) and state schools. They look at the curriculum and student safety (like our EECSRSB) and also take a particular interest in the obligation of school Boards (ie governing bodies) to be ‘good employers’. The ERO also reviews ‘private schools’ (which receive no government funding), but under different legislation. Comments from participants at this session highlighted how very different our state regulatory frameworks are, across Australia.
The final session was a panel discussion on the broad topic of ‘Cyber Issues’. Two university researchers joined a lawyer and an officer from the SA Police Cyber Crime unit to share perspectives and respond to questions from the floor. Research findings and classroom practices were shared and interrogated. Many questions remained, such as - Is online ‘exploring’ really analogous with ‘exploring the physical neighbourhood’? But the biggest one in my mind is how do we effectively support parents, to enable them to keep their children safe online? SAPOL, like schools, are finding that attendees at their information sessions are generally those who already understand the challenges and are taking practical steps to address them. Are there schools that are finding novel ways to address this? The ANZELA conference was time well spent. I am very grateful to the IEU for making my participation possible.
From left: Glen Seidel, Val Reinke, Vesna Jadresic, Wendy Evans, Michael Francis, Sheryl Hoffman, Marlene Maney, Anthony Haskell, Priscilla Corbell and Fil Isles
Carmel Kerin awarded “Meritorious Service Award” at ANZELA Conference in Adelaide
Carmel is the long serving Presiding Member of the Teachers Registration Board SA and has been an active supporter of ANZELA in South Australia since the early 1990s, when the association first began. Carmel played a key role in the organisation and running of the National Conference held in Adelaide in 2000. The South Australian Chapter of ANZELA was formally established in November 2011. Carmel is a foundation member and is a member of the committee that organises Adelaide-based workshops each year on subjects relating to education and the law. She has served tirelessly for the past fourteen months on the 2014 national conference organising committee to deliver the conference in Adelaide. Her longstanding and enthusiastic commitment was recognised this year at the conference with the ‘Meritorious Service Award’.
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
23
The SACE Board and Institute of Educational Assessors Australian Curriculum
Institute of Educational Assessors
Working closely with subject experts, the SACE Board is currently integrating the senior secondary Australian Curriculum content into SACE subjects.
The Institute of Educational Assessors (IEA) has been established as a SACE Board initiative to improve student learning outcomes through certification and enhancement of teacher expertise in assessment.
This follows a 2012 agreement between the state, territory, and Commonwealth Ministers. Under that agreement, the Ministers endorsed the senior secondary Australian Curriculum for English, Mathematics, Science, and History as the common base for development of state and territory senior secondary subjects. Last year, they also endorsed the senior secondary curriculum for Geography. Each state and territory curriculum, assessment and certification authority is responsible for: • how senior secondary subjects are organised • how Australian Curriculum content and achievement standards are integrated into subjects. The SACE Board is working with subject experts to integrate the senior secondary Australian Curriculum content. Questions being considered include: • innovations around online assessment • student workload • articulation from Year 10 to the senior years • catering for student diversity • operational implications for schools and the SACE Board. The current focus involves Phase 1 subjects – these comprise four English and four mathematics subjects: English, Literature, Essential English, English as a Second Language, Mathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics, General Mathematics, Essential Mathematics. A consultation process on these subjects, followed by accreditation of subject outlines and implementation workshops, will be held in 2015. The new English and maths subjects will be introduced to the South Australian curriculum for 2016 at Year 11 and 2017 at Year 12. Phase 2 subjects, comprising four sciences, two history subjects, and Geography will be introduced in 2017-18 and will follow an identical process, involving consultation, accreditation and implementation workshops. The Board looks forward to working with IEU members and schools to ensure the introduction of the Australian Curriculum builds on the strengths of the SACE.
24
In September this year, the IEA hosted a series of breakfast forums to highlight local, national and international directions in educational assessment. Some of the key messages that resonated with attendees were: • That student learning can be advanced by teachers developing a deep understanding of the relationships between learning and assessment • The increasing professional responsibility of teachers to be the designers of learning and the designers of assessment • The need to support the professional demands of teachers through evidenced-based and practical professional learning to ensure that teachers are assessment-literate. With these messages in mind, the Institute has worked in partnership with school sectors, subject associations and South Australian universities to develop a range of courses and professional learning opportunities that: • Complement existing SACE Board activities • Support educators to develop their expertise in educational assessment • Are recognised towards post-graduate studies (i.e. towards a Graduate Certificate and Master’s Degree) and the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers • Meet the requirements for accumulation of professional learning hours required by the Teachers Registration Board. Through the newly formed Institute, educators will have the choice of two courses, commencing in January 2015: • The Assessment for Educators course, which is designed to support a whole-school commitment to evaluating and improving existing assessment practices. • The Certified Educational Assessors course, which is for educators seeking to strengthen their expertise in assessment knowledge and practice. Importantly, the IEA will seek to translate national and international research findings in assessment into professional learning that is practical and accessible to a broad range of educators. More information about the Institute of Educational Assessors can be found via: www.sace.sa.edu.au/iea EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
Top
5 causes of workplace stress
Work related stress is the most common workplace issue in Australian workplaces. AccessEAP has recently compiled data across all the industries we work in The top five triggers of workplace stress are; 1. Job insecurity 2. Work overload 3. Organisational change 4. Conflict with manager or colleagues 5. Bullying and harassment Job insecurity and work overload are the top triggers for workplace stress with a recent report finding that job insecurity rose from 26% to 31% during the second half of 2013. Employers can set up management courses and build resilience seminars to help employees understand and manage stress, however, unless an organisation creates a culture of open communication and realistic, achievable demands and deadlines for employees, work overload and the stress it creates will continue to exist. In 2013, Australians reported significantly lower levels of wellbeing and significantly higher levels of distress than in the previous two years which can have detrimental effects on any organisation. In today’s fast paced society, everyone experiences different levels of stress. Everybody is vulnerable to stress and react to different stressors in different ways. Some people become withdrawn, have difficulty sleeping and the longer and more severe the stress, the greater the effect. Stress in the workplace may cause headaches, gastrointestinal conditions, high blood pressure and sleep disorders. It may affect productivity, relationships and performance and may lead to employees feeling overwhelmed. The cost of mental health issues Mental health issues continue to cost employers in sick days with one fifth of Australian workers having taken time off in the last year due to stress, anxiety, depression or feeling mentally unwell. This absenteeism is resulting in 12 million days of reduced productivity imposing a direct economic cost on employers which amounts to a staggering $6 million lost each year. Although mental health and wellbeing in the workplace is everyone’s responsibility, leaders play an even more critical role. They have the capacity to influence colleagues and implement the necessary changes to work towards workplace wellbeing. Increasing awareness of mental health in the workplace will help remove stigma and create a more open environment.
A recent PWC study looked at the impact of employee’s mental health conditions on productivity, participation and compensation claims. It found that these conditions are costing Australian employers $10.9 billion a year. The bottom line is that if your organisation is not investing in mental health, it’s losing money. With workers now spending more and more time at work, being mentally healthy in the workplace is more important than ever before. Here are the top five ways to handle stress in the workplace; 1) Work out your priorities Write them down each morning, prioritise them and take one thing at a time. Keep and make lists and make sure the tasks you set are achievable. 2) Practice saying no If you are already feeling overloaded, think hard before committing to other people’s expectations or agendas. We often perform tasks just to feel accepted by other people. Practice saying no to requests that are unreasonable or more than you can handle at the time. 3) Don’t take things personally Make allowances for the fact that stress can make you more sensitive in reacting to others and more prone to taking things personally. Stress in others can also make them behave atypically or unkindly. Learn to defuse situations rather than bottle them up and let go of grudges. 4) Prioritise relaxation and exercise These are not optional extras for handling stress, they are essential. Set aside time each day for recreation and exercise. The trick is to find what suits you. Hobbies that focus attention are also good stress relievers. 5) Identify your stress situations Make a list of events that leave you emotionally drained and one or two ways to reduce the stress for each. When they occur, use them as an opportunity to practice your stress reduction techniques and keep notes of what works for next time.
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
Absolutely Super How will your income stream look? It’s not rocket science. The concept of superannuation is basically simple: save enough during your working life to provide an income stream during your retirement years. Our world class super system was established to reduce the dependency on social security (age pension) and to assist workers to build a large enough balance to enjoy a comfortable retirement.
But, how much is enough? The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) estimates the following annual amounts assuming home ownership and good health:
Modest Lifestyle
Comfortable Lifestyle
Single
$23,363
$42,433
Couple
$33,664
$58,128
“Comfortable Lifestyle” builds in car ownership, private health insurance, energy costs, occasional travel, and money for leisure pursuits including a range of electronic equipment. A “Modest Lifestyle” assumes basic activities, and utilities and is considered marginally better than the Age Pension. So how does an income stream actually work? For members who retire after age 60, the government has legislated minimum drawdowns starting at 4% of the balance per year. A member aged 63 who retires with a balance of $500,000, for example, would be required to drawdown a minimum of $20,000 and this could be accessed by dividing the quantum by 26 fortnights or 12 monthly payments. A higher amount could be drawn down depending on the needs of the retiree and the lifestyle choices made. Lump sums can also be withdrawn at any time if retired and over age 60.
26
An attractive feature of an income stream or accountbased pension after age 60 and retired is that the payments are made completely tax free. This has been a longstanding bi-partisan government policy to encourage workers to build their retirement savings. Also, there are no further taxes on the investment earnings so the source of the income stream is in a tax-advantaged environment. In the superannuation accumulation phase a tax of 15% is paid on investment returns.
Bernard O’Connor NGS Super
Another feature of income streams or account-based pensions is that investment choice is still available so pensioners can select their own investments based on their tolerance for risk and the balance will still be earning investment returns while the drawdowns are being made (assuming positive markets). Members drawing down an income stream will have the full spectrum of NGS Super investments open to them including NGS Self-Managed and the new Income Generator investment option specifically designed for pension members aged 65+ who prioritise preservation of the real value of their retirement capital over the “active retirement” years to age 80. The investment choices available can be found on the NGS Super website at www.ngssuper.com.au under “Investments”. So with a little thought and a clear budget, it is possible to estimate how much will be needed per annum in retirement. Once this figure is reached it is possible to extrapolate how much of a lump sum will be necessary to generate the desired amount. Of course it is a good idea to obtain some professional advice prior to making any significant financial decision and NGS Super has a highly qualified financial planning team which operates on a fee-for-service basis, no hidden commissions. Special superannuation calculators are also available to assist members to determine how much to put away now to reach their financial goals in the future.
Important information: The information in this article is general information only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making a financial decision, please assess the appropriateness of the information to your individual circumstances, read the Product Disclosure Statement for any product you may be thinking of acquiring and consider seeking professional advice. EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
Safe@Work Safer Schools 2014-2015
The Safer Schools Project is part of the State Government’s Workplace Partnership Program with Unions to raise employee awareness of workplace safety through information and training, and to encourage their participation and constructive involvement in work health and safety arrangements. The Project began in July 2011 and ended in June 2014. Because of the importance the State Government places in the Program, it has approved funding for all Projects, including Safer Schools, to allow continuation of the Program for a further year. Non-government education had been recognised as an industry that was falling behind in employee awareness and participation in work health and safety arrangements. When the first partnership program began in 2007 there were fewer than ten nongovernment schools that had staff elected Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs). Schools did have Health and Safety Committees (HSCs) but many of these did not meet the intention of the then Health and Safety legislation. Very few had half or more of their numbers chosen by employees, and many had not registered with Safework SA or completed the required HSC training. When the initial Program finished in 2010, there were 30 HSRs in nongovernment schools and by the start of the second Program – Safer Schools - in 2011, 144 schools had registered their HSC with Safework SA. Safer Schools 2011-14 continued the information program through school visits and the IEU’s member education program. This period also coincided with the introduction of the new Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation in 2013, so the information while still focussing on the importance of employee participation through having staff elected HSRs and HSCs which complied with the requirements of the new Act, also covered the inclusion in the WHS Act of the responsibilities of duty holders, particularly the new duty to “consult” with workers on health and safety matters. At the end of the Safer Schools Project 2011-14 there were an estimated 98 non-government education workplaces that had staff elected HSRs and 176 had HSCs. There is now no requirement for registering a HSC but the school must provide a list of all elected HSRs to SafeworkSA.
Gerry Conley WHS Project Officer
So from less than ten schools with HSRs in 2007 to 98 in 2014, non-government education has moved towards a greater staff awareness and participation in health and safety arrangements. But there is still more to be done. The new Safer Schools project in 2014-15 will still have, as its primary objective, to have HSRs in place and trained in as many schools as possible. The importance of consultation will also be raised and staff will be encouraged to think about what is lacking in health and safety consultation now at their school and what needs to be changed. As the Act states:
Consultation under this Division requires— (a) that relevant information about the matter is shared with workers; and (b) that workers be given a reasonable opportunity— (i) to express their views and to raise work health or safety issues in relation to the matter; and (ii) to contribute to the decision-making process relating to the matter; and (c) that the views of workers are taken into account by the person conducting the business or undertaking; and (d) that the workers consulted are advised of the outcome of the consultation in a timely manner. Now think hard, “Does this happen at your school on all health and safety matters?” We won’t get to every school before June 2015 but there will be plenty of information coming on how members can ensure that real consultation on the health and safety issues that affect them in their work can be achieved. Watch out for it! And if you want to ensure that your school is on the visit list get your Branch Rep to contact Gerry Conley.
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
27
Pay Equity
Early Childhood Equal Remuneration Case Attraction and retention of qualified teachers is vital to the delivery of quality early childhood education and, to enable this, salaries of teachers working in early childhood education and care centres must be comparable to those paid to teachers in school settings. In October and November 2013, the IEU made application to the Fair Work Commission for an equal remuneration order. In general terms, the effect of the order sought was to increase rates of pay for teachers employed in long day care centres and preschools to the level of those paid to teachers working in schools. At the same time, United Voice and the AEU made application for an order of wider scope which would also apply to non-teachers covered by, among others, the Children’s Services Award. What is clear is that, the Annual Wage Review aside, this is the most significant individual matter before the Commission. Importantly, the basic facts underlying the application reveal graphically the effect of decades of systemic gender-based undervaluation of work. More than 95 percent of the teachers working in long day care and preschools are women. The majority of teachers are paid at award rates, typically some $25,000 - $30,000 below the going rates for the same or similar work performed in schools. To date, the Fair Work Commission has spent much of the year hearing submissions from the parties as to the principles which should apply when it hears and determines the case. In particular, the Commission has been concerned to hear from the parties as to the best method of determining whether the work of ECE employees is undervalued. The last submissions in the matter were made in May 2014, but the Commission has yet to hand down its decision. The evidentiary proceedings are expected to be programmed for 2015 and to stretch over several months. IEU members can follow the ‘Teachers are Teachers’ campaign, providing further reports and generating membership support for the application at www.ieu.asn.au/campaigns/teachers-are-teachers/
IEU R eprese ntativ es SAVE THE D ATE
Mond ay 2 M arch 9 a m Educa tion D - 4pm Milne evelopment r S t. H indma Centre rsh
IEU Reps Conference 2015 Contemporary Challenges National Curriculum & SACE Dr N McGoran SACE CEO Fitness, propriety and screening Peter Lind, Registrar TRB Debelle Commission implications Anne Walker, AEU Special needs, child protection and ESOs IEU(SA)Inc Annual Council meeting Guest speaker Ged Kearney, President, Australian Council of Trade Unions other key note speakers to be confirmed Catholic and Lutheran school Reps (and some others) should have access to a paid training day for this event.
28
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
United World Conference on Indigenous People IEU Indigenous Advisor, Diat Callope Diat was ‘styled up’ in a T-Shirt given to her by Oakhill College IEU Rep Clinton Elliott and Indigenous Coordinator Karen Isaacs. The students designed the College football jersey with the help of traditional custodians of the Darug land, the Goddard family and Darug Educator Chris Tobin. Last year I applied to HREOC to attend the United Nations World Conference on Indigenous People. I was successful and became one of ten Australian delegates to travel to Alta Norway. When I received this news I was very emotional – I believe this was the beginning of my journey to make a difference for indigenous people at an international level. This year in New York, Aboriginal and Torres Strait organisations and individuals from Australia including myself, were part of an Australian delegation attending the United Nations General Assembly High Level Plenary session, known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. The conference delegates welcomed the General Assembly adoption of the draft World Conference Peoples Outcome Document which includes a number of important commitments regarding the implementation of Indigenous Peoples rights to full and effective participation in decision making in all activities of the states of United Nations.
constitutional recognition for how the lands, the rivers - everything belongs to the Indigenous people. We need something like that. Despite the inevitable challenges in reaching consensus, the Alta outcome document demonstrates bravery, courage and a demand for a more just society. One of the world’s greatest leaders, Nelson Mandela’s, words encapsulate the purpose of this conference
‘During my time I have dedicated myself to this struggle of African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die’.
The Indigenous Peoples Organisation Network of Australia is a broad affiliation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who engage with the Human Rights Council and other United Nations mechanisms and frameworks to advocate for the implementation of the United Nations Conventions and Treaties, including the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This is a very significant forum, but lack of funding is a major reason why some groups are still not able to attend. To some extent this is an issue for Indigenous representatives from Australia because as Australia is a developed first nation it limits our capacity to be funded under the United Nations Indigenous Voluntary Fund. Lack of Government support to fill this gap needs to be addressed considering the significant role played by Australia in the international arena. Currently we only have one person who is regularly funded under the Voluntary Fund so where there is a situation of more applicants than funds available we are marginalised because we come from a developed first world nation which is expected to provide that extra level of support. It was a great honour and privilege for me to attend this top level conference, but it’s not about me. It’s about being a voice for all the Indigenous peoples of Australia. It was an opportunity for Indigenous people to raise the issue of an Australian constitution recognising Indigenous people which should improve all aspects of life, health, education - everything - for indigenous Australians. Other countries have
Diat Callope Indigenous Advisor IEU NSW/ACT EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
29
rld Teache Wo rs
ay
WhaT We Do: Who We are
’D
Quality education
World Teachers Day Since 1994 World Teachers’ Day has been celebrated internationally on October 5. This year we celebrated the important work of our teachers on Friday October 31. World Teachers’ Day is a great opportunity for all Australians to celebrate teachers past and present and by association all those who work in our schools educating the upcoming generations. Internationally World Teachers’ Day is run by UNESCO and Education International. It is an opportunity for UNESCO and Education International to celebrate the profession and to promote international standards for the teaching profession.
30
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
IEU Professional Development ...for Reps
IEU’s online training program for Reps is now on air – or up in the cloud. Whatever the correct term is, this PD is now available and is being targeted at Reps in country schools who have completed an Introductory Rep course. There are currently two modules available with the third on the way. Module 1 Recruiting and organising, covers skills in these crucial areas of the role of the Rep. The program takes the learner through Mapping a workplace, looks at skills in recruiting new members to the Union and then getting members involved in Union activities at school. Module 2 Handling grievances, takes the learner through an actual grievance from the point where it is raised with the Rep by the member; through the interview process with the member to gain more information about the grievance; and then preparing a case and negotiating it with management to reach a satisfactory conclusion for the member. Module 3 Enterprise bargaining looks at understanding the process as set out in the Fair Work legislation; developing a log of claims; and then negotiating with management to reach an Agreement. The training is particularly geared toward more experienced Reps who have difficulty getting to the IEU’s on site Rep PD. Like all IEU education programs the modules will be referenced to the AITSL standards for Reps who are teachers and to relevant competencies for non teaching Reps. These will appear on the Certificate that successful participants will receive on completion of each module. If you would like to be involved in this or would like more information about this or any IEU training courses contact Gerry Conley at the IEU office.
Non Teaching Member Guide
In 1989 the Association of Teachers in Independent Schools (ATIS) changed its name to the Association of Non-Government Education Employees (ANGEE) in recognition of its membership base being broader than just teachers. As part of celebrating the 25th birthday of ANGEE, now the IEU, we have released an online Non Teaching Member Guide. The Guide it is available in the members’ section of the IEUSA website. It is a useful resource for non teaching members as it contains information that will help provide a better understanding of the various work conditions they are entitled to and also has some useful tips for writing reclassification and job applications. Currently the Guide contains information on: • Employment conditions - including hours of work and overtime provisions, higher duties allowances; other allowances; professional development entitlements. • Entitlements to reclassification; role review; and performance management • Useful guidelines to help in describing your skills when applying for reclassification or a new job in another school. • Work Health and Safety – including who has responsibilities in your school; the role of the Health and Safety Representative; when and why a Union Organiser might enter your school to investigate a work health or safety issue; and PPE. • Links to other documents on the IEU website such as Workcover and parental leave. • Links to important workplace entitlements such as the National Employment Standards. But this isn’t all. The word “currently” is an important one. The Guide will be a “living” document. It will be updated when necessary and added to over time. So go and have a look, we hope it will prove to be useful to our non-teaching members. Tell your non-union work colleagues about the guide it may get them thinking about the benefits they are missing out on and encourage them to join. If you aren’t familiar with logging onto the member only section, please contact us for assistance. EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
31
30 of soli
years
darity
Since
1984
Send some peace, spirit and solidarity with Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA Check E X C from F LUSIVEout our irst Do DESIGN 0 Festive 3Season Cards go
sary nniver 30th a ks the ad-APHEDA r a m bro 2014 to n Aid A l opnpodrtsunoitfy of Unio ia a ion
of soli
years
darity
Since
unl a sptehcousstraliancia is in Tnhdis jo e Au d so t to ents a celeebnrat tewotht’rskcoamnmitmenthrough rity , dec men ht for movernational solida eas education
n the M
1984
oon
ds of jects. overs inte ousan ail ent pro port to edaem and join th and social its sup nd developm h p /a y ts it.l ga ven work trainin http://b anniversary e ht for decent list at g email all our 30th orting the fi r u o p f Join d otson are sup formbee y inR o eorple who Staja in alian p the wrorrlad.in, ij tr s p u A m lea unndg fo , aro sa lleedibNe untry justiecres
o the c storm the d e p e u ll e v r mad ked sr. m tra n pic the wate the n lco ove” e tiofa d r n n ra e w o a ce D h w borrpo n by rpent iumpa. “Pea ines anu, e y s g desig r Tim Ba w n ly il e edia urlu a rainbo lled J end m ic design a ix o c p M ti u h a e por ased grap dug large lak l Cor a rigina Sydney-b eate ’ Abo ts s ti r ngu A DuArTUla rlu.com a AC .w w
n ak e sto ainm cross uroisr a g,flotw
o to eds ug preodcae.org.a
Pack of 10 cards only $12 plus P&H View the 2014 range and how to order at www.apheda.org.au
EDA ad APH e ACTU
of th ro Aid Ab n aid agency Unioernseas humanitaria
ph
he ov
s go
to
A APHED TU broad ency of the AC n Aid A ian aid ag ceed
All pro
anitar Une io as hum overse Th
om g.au n: da.or Made fr led Fibre aphe matio Recyc infor ffice@ e o r | u o u 100% rg.a M rg.a FROM RE MADE CLED FIB CY 0% RE
10
: a.o da.o phed ation aphe ww.a form ce@ in 4|w fi 7 f e 6 o r 8 | 88 Mo g.au 1800 da.or .aphe
SUPPORT WORKERS’ RIGHTS
SUPPORT ADULT EDUCATION
TIMOR-LESTE: A trainer assists a woman during a literacy workshop in the remote Neran community. Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA supported literacy programs have helped more than 3,000 rural Timorese women to become literate and numerate since 2001.
Union Aid Abroad APHEDA
The overseas humanitarian aid agency of the ACTU
30 years
of solidarity
Since 1984
Visit apheda.org.au or call 1800 888 674 to become a regular monthly donor.
32
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
What’s your problem?
If you have a question about your employment conditions that requires a prompt response, call the office on 8410 0122 and ask to speak to your school’s Organiser.
Right of Entry to Staff Room Q.
Dear Dorothy,
I was surprised how insistent the principal was that our IEU Organiser should not visit people in the staff room, but instead go to the Board Room which was promptly booked for the purpose. She said that the Fair Work Act and the Catholic EA give her the right to determine the venue of Union visits. I can’t see the Board Room as a good place to recruit new members. People just won’t be able to or willing to cut into their short break. It has never been a problem in the past but she says that some people have approached her about feeling uncomfortable. Is she right about her rights?
Sincerely, Confused
A.
Dear Confused,
The venue must be fit for the purpose of the discussions. This means that different purposes would require different venues. If the Organiser was assisting with the running of a formal Branch meeting of members or a caucus meeting ahead of developing a grievance, then a private room away from prying eyes and ears would be essential. However for a meet-and-greet recruiting visit, the staff room is usually the most appropriate venue. The purpose of the visit is to approach and talk with people who may or may not be members. The purpose is not for people to approach the Organiser who is waiting quietly in the corner for customers. The Fair Work Act recognises that there may not be agreement on the venue for an Organiser visit and specifies that in the absence of agreement the lunch room will be the default. Changes to the lunch room default in the Act are having trouble passing through the Senate at the moment. In any case the Catholic EA at 13.1.3(iv) specifies that the venue would usually be the lunch room and the “fit for purpose” aspect of the Act is lined up for being reinstated if and when the lunch room default is removed. The mere fact that the principal claims that some people may be uncomfortable with a Union Organiser in the staff room is not sufficient grounds to make the room not “fit for purpose”. People can politely decline to engage in conversation and that will be graciously accepted. The simple announcement that the Organiser is present and happy to talk with interested people is not the level of disruption that would warrant banning them from the staff room. One wonders why some schools are quite paranoid about union access and others are totally unfazed. I will leave you to invent your own theory. If you cannot talk your principal around, your Organiser is more than willing to explain the technicalities. Regards, Dorothy. EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
33
y p p a h d n a fe a s a u o y h We wis ! n o s a e s e festiv Member Information The IEUSA office will be closed from December 19th to January 5th. Please update your details with us by the 31st January 2014 to ensure we have current contact and school details and that you are paying at the correct fee category. Fill out the form on page 35 and return by fax, email or mail or phone: 8410 0122 or log on to the member area of the website www.ieusa.org.au
(If you haven’t logged on to the new website yet your password is in the format ‘membernumber.surname’ if you have any difficulty or are unsure of your member number please phone or email us for assistance) All members currently on Category O and P will automatically be moved up one category unless we are advised otherwise by 31st January via the update form. DIRECT DEBIT REQUEST SERVICE AGREEMENT User ID: 077399 updated: 24/10/11 Independent Education Union South Australia, 213–215 Currie Street, Adelaide SA
34
You have entered or are about to enter into an arrangement under which you make payments to us. You want to make those payments by use of the Direct Debit System. This agreement sets out the terms on which we accept and act under a Direct Debit Request (“your Direct Debit Request”) you give us to debit amounts from your account under the Direct Debit System. It is additional to the arrangement under which you make payments to us. Please ensure you keep a copy of this agreement as it sets out certain rights you have against us and certain obligations you have to us due to giving us your Direct Debit request. Our Agreement: 1. We agree to be bound by this agreement when we receive your Direct Debit Request complete with the particulars we need to draw an amount under it. 2. We agree only to draw money out of your account in accordance with the terms of your Direct Debit Request. What we can do: 3. On giving you at least 14 days notice, we may: (a) change our procedures in this agreement; (b) change the terms of our Direct Debit Request; or (c) cancel your Direct Debit Request. You may ask us to: 4. (a) alter the terms of your Direct Debit Request; (b) defer a payment to be made under your Direct Debit Request; or (c) stop a drawing under your Direct Debit Request. Or you may cancel your Direct Debit Request by forwarding a request in writing clearly stating your membership number, name, address, contact telephone number and the action you wish IEU(SA) to take on your behalf. 5. You may dispute any amount we draw under your Direct Debit Request by contacting the IEU(SA) office and discussing your concern with the appropriate officer. Should your dispute not be resolved in this manner, you are requested to forward a signed statement to the Secretary by post or fax (Fax: 8410 0282) outlining your dispute along with what action has already been taken. How we will handle a dispute: 6. We deal with any dispute under clause 5 of this agreement as follows: (a) check that we have your IEU(SA) subscription details recorded correctly;
(b) correct any inaccuracy and notify you accordingly by telephone or post; (c) if our records are correct, contact you by telephone or in writing within 14 days outlining the prescribed fees; (d) if you are not satisfied with the action taken, we will advise you of further action available under the IEU(SA) Constitution. General information: 7. We draw on your account under your Direct Debit Request on or after the first Wednesday of the month. 8. If your financial institution rejects any of our attempt/s to draw an amount in accordance with your Direct Debit Request, we will make contact with you by telephone or in writing to ascertain: (a) if the bank details provided to us are correct; (b) if you wish to change your method of payment or (c) if there is any other reason why your financial institution has rejected our attempt to draw the required amount. 9. We will not disclose to any person any information you give us on your Direct Debit Request, which is not generally available, unless (a) you dispute any amount we draw under your Direct Debit Request and we need to disclose any information relating to your Direct Debit Request or to any amount we draw under it to the financial institution at which your account is held or the financial institution which sponsors our use of the Direct Debit System or both of them; (b) you consent to that disclosure, or (c) we are required to disclose that information by law. 10. Not all accounts held with a financial institution are available to be drawn on under the Direct Debit System. 11. Before you complete your Direct Debit Request, it is best to check account details against a recent statement from your financial institution to ensure the details on your Direct Debit Request are completed correctly. Your responsibility: 12. It is your responsibility to ensure there are sufficient clear funds available in your account by the due date on which we draw any amount under your Direct Debit Request, to enable us to obtain payment in accordance with your Direct Debit Request. 13. We request you to direct all requests to stop or cancel your Direct Debit Request and all enquiries relating to any dispute under Clause 4 of this agreement to us initially.
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
Member Update Form
"
Please update your details on a yearly basis and when details change. Forward completed form to: 213 Currie Street, Adelaide SA, 5000, fax 8410 0282, email to enquiries@ieusa.org.au or complete online at www.ieusa.org.au/members-only/update-details/ If you have any queries regarding your membership details or wish to update over the phone please call the office on 8410 0122.
IEU(SA) Fee Schedule - 1 February 2015 Please tick appropriate category
Gross annual salary for 2015 (before tax & salary sacrifice)
Category
Member No.__________________ DOB:________/________/________
Yearly
Monthly
B
Less than $20,000 pa
$175
$14.60
C
$20,001 - $25,000 pa
$220
$18.35
D
$25,001 - $30,000 pa
$265
$22.10
E
$30,001 - $35,000 pa
$310
$25.85
F
$35,001 - $40,000 pa
$355
$29.60
Name: ______________________________________________________
G
$40,001 - $45,000 pa
$400
$33.35
Postal Address:________________________________________________
H
$45,001 - $50,000 pa
$445
$37.10
I
$50,001 - $55,000 pa
$490
$40.85
J
$55,001 - $60,000 pa
$535
$44.60
K
$60,001 - $65,000 pa
$580
$48.35
L
$65,001 - $70,000 pa
$625
$52.10
M
$70,001 - $75,000 pa
$670
$55.85
N
$75,001 - $80,000 pa
$715
$59.60
O
$80,001 - $85,000 pa
$760
$63.35
P
$85,001 - $90,000 pa
$805
$67.10
Q
$90,001 pa and above
$850
$70.85
(if known)
Suburb/Town:_______________________________ P/C:_____________ Home phone:_______________________________ Mobile:____________________________________ Work email:___________________________________________________ Home email:___________________________________________________ Preferred email for contact:
work
home
Would you like to receive your EdU journal via
email or
post
School / Organisation:___________________________________________
start date:______/______/______ Teacher
Principal
$10
Retired not working in the sector
$50
N/A
Monthly payments will be taken on the first Wednesday of each month. On receipt of details payment method will be altered as requested and arrears will be deducted.
Parental leave
end date:______/______/______
Deputy Principal
$10
$120
If you would like to change payment method or account details please complete the relevant section below.
Planned extended leave (one month or more) for 2015:
$120
TRT: Please estimate your current annual earnings to determine your category
Campus / Suburb:___________________________________________
LWOP
Student studying not working in the sector LWOP / Not employed in sector / Parental leave
Credit Card debit request Please debit the card below:
TRT
on an ongoing monthly basis until further notice, with the appropriate IEU(SA) membership fee as adjusted from time to time.
If first year graduate date of 1st appointment: ______/______/______
on an ongoing yearly basis until further notice, with the appropriate IEU(SA) membership fee as adjusted from time to time.
Non-Teaching staff
Type:
Point time:__________
Step/PT/GT:__________
POR/PAR:__________
VISA
MasterCard
Admin and Finance
Curriculum / classroom
Resources / ICT
Credit Card Number: |__|__|__|__| |__|__|__|__| |__|__|__|__| |__|__|__|__|
Other services
Other professionals
Instructional
Expiry Date (mm/yy): ____ / ____
Boarding House
Trade Trainer
Early Childhood / OSHC
Name on card: ______________________________________________
Other:__________________________________________
Card holders Signature:_______________________________________
Grade:________________
Date: ____/____/____
Year Level:_______________
Hours Worked Per week:__________ & Weeks worked per year:___________
or
Point time:_____________
Student
Graduation date:______/______/______
Retiring?
Retirement date:______/______/______
Resignation of your membership must be in writing and will take effect 30 days from receipt of your letter, with fees payable until the date of effect.
Monthly Direct Debit request By signing this document, I/We authorise The Independent Education Union (South Australia) (IEU(SA)), ABN 37 581 749 503, the Debit User, (No. 077399), to debit the account, detailed below, through the Direct Debit System, on an ongoing monthly basis until further notice, with the appropriate IEU(SA) membership fee as adjusted from time to time. Service agreement on reverse.. Financial Institution Name: _____________________________________ Name/s on account: __________________________________________ BSB Number |__|__|__| - |__|__|__| Account Number |__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
Personal information is collected for the purpose of assisting and communicating with members. Information is handled in accordance with the Account holder Signature:______________________________________ IEUSA Privacy Policy available at www.ieusa.org.au/about/privacy-policy/ Date: ____/____/____ EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
35
FEELING GOOD IS ALL ABOUT BALANCE. NOT JUST THE ONE IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT.
We believe that doing well is also about doing good. So while we are proud of our track record as a high performing, low cost industry super fund, we know that’s not all you care about. You could say we’ve learnt from our 105,000 members who have dedicated their lives to helping the community. We’re dedicated to educating our members every step of the way. We’re invested in being more responsible corporate citizens committed to helping the community and the environment. Of course being an industry super fund means we’re run only to benefit members, and pay no commissions to financial advisors. Profits certainly won’t end up in shareholder pockets. We want you to enjoy your wealth. In every sense of the word. For more information visit ngssuper.com.au or call 1300 133 177.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Issued by NGS Super Pty Limited ABN 46 003 491 487 AFSL No 233 154 the Trustee of NGS Super ABN 73 549 180 515
EdU Dec 2014 IEU(SA)
36