EB9 - what happens next?
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 123 No 7, 5 October 2018, page no. 11
QTU members have had their say on what the Union’s priorities should be as it enters the negotiations for EB9.
While the current certified agreement doesn’t expire until 30 June 2019, it is important that prior to negotiations commencing the QTU seeks member input into the development of the QTU enterprise bargaining claim. That’s why August and September saw EB workplace meetings held across the state, allowing members to discuss the previously identified key priorities and consider other issues that emerged from previous consultation.
The meetings concluded on 12 September, and the feedback has now been collated. See the outcomes below.
What happens next?
Executive has requested that a draft claim be prepared for consideration by members at branch meetings/area meetings in the first four weeks of term four. These branch meetings will provide members with the opportunity to consider the outcome of workplace meetings and ask questions regarding the final draft claim, prior to its consideration by State Council at its meeting on 3 November.
The claim will then form the substance of negotiations when these commence in 2019.
What about the current certified agreement?
The current certified agreement and the conditions it contains remains in place until a new agreement is negotiated.
Consequently, these conditions should continue to be implemented and enforced in your workplace. These include:
- a clear process for consultation and dispute resolution
- local agreements for the purpose, frequency and duration of staff meetings
- recognition that award entitlements to non-contact time (NCT) are to be used at the teacher’s discretion and that any award NCT lost because of planned school activities needs to be replaced
- class sizes that can be exceeded only in exceptional circumstances and following consultation at the local level
- requirements for schools to have agreed data plans, agreed processes for collegial engagement in classrooms, agreed processes around reporting and lesson planning and agreed timeframes for annual performance reviews
- commitments regarding maximisation of permanency and payment for attendance at both student free days at the start of the school year for temporary teachers
- ongoing commitments to the Mentoring for Beginning Teacher Program.
When will the new agreement start?
A new agreement cannot be reached without member consultation and support. Consequently, the QTU cannot say exactly when a new agreement will be in place.
Outcomes from the EB workplace meetings
Resolutions laying out the Union’s key priorities were carried overwhelmingly. They were:
Resolution 1: THAT QTU members endorse PPCR, workload, and gender pay equity as the three key elements of the EB claim - 97 per cent in favour
Resolution 2 asked members to rank other issues in order of importance. The meetings decided that the priorities should be as follows.
- Class sizes
- NCT
- Part-time
- Incentives for rural and remote locations
- Permanency
- Allowances
- Professional issues
- Workplace health and safety.
Resolution 3: THAT QTU members acknowledge that when determining the acceptability or otherwise of salary increases, the QTU Executive considers factors such as: interstate comparisons; government wages policy; increases in other education sectors; negotiations regarding conditions; inflation; other cost of living indices and the timing of increases (e.g. impact of date of increases on superannuation and other benefits) - 99 per cent in favour