This article is repeated without change from the Eastern Courier (21/11/07) an Adelaide suburban newspaper.
It is a warning to teachers in the public education system that un-Australian Workplace Agreements are infiltrating education, and that what private school teachers face now will be what we face in the future if the Howard regime is re-elected on the 24th of this month.
The article follows:
Workplace Disagreement
By Aaron Coultate
Teachers at one of Adelaide's most elite private schools are at loggerheads with management in a dispute over WorkChoices, which is likely to act as a test case for other independent schools.
Teachers at Prince Alfred College, Hackney, have overwhelmingly rejected a new pay deal in which union members were asked, for the first time, to sign Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs). Staff voted 80-20 against the changes which, they said, would ban the Independent Education Union from meeting with members on school grounds, or discussing with them workplace issues.
They have previously accepted the school's offer on pay and conditions.
"The workplace is now in deep dispute over form rather than function," union secretary Glen Seidel (right) said.
"...There is a lot of resentment there."
Mr Seidel said the outcome could be a landmark ruling for SA independent schools, most of which were set to begin AWA negotiations in coming weeks.
"It will probably set the precedent for the rest of the state's non-Catholic private schools. PAC is the vanguard, everyone else is looking at them."
He said it was unlikely teachers would strike. "The most that may happen is some teachers boycott a Saturday morning game of school cricket.
"These are not your usual militant union members."
The teachers have gone back to management with a proposed "memorandum of understanding", which would bypass WorkChoices while maintaining the agreed working and pay conditions.
Mr Seidel said the need for the teachers to take this action made a "mockery" of the laws.
It is unclear whether the school will accept the teachers' position.
Contacted on Friday, PAC Headmaster Kevin Tutt refused to comment.
The issue could take a different tack if the ALP is elected on November 24, with leader Kevin Rudd promising to overhual industrial relations laws.
It is a warning to teachers in the public education system that un-Australian Workplace Agreements are infiltrating education, and that what private school teachers face now will be what we face in the future if the Howard regime is re-elected on the 24th of this month.
The article follows:
Workplace Disagreement
By Aaron Coultate
Teachers at one of Adelaide's most elite private schools are at loggerheads with management in a dispute over WorkChoices, which is likely to act as a test case for other independent schools.
Teachers at Prince Alfred College, Hackney, have overwhelmingly rejected a new pay deal in which union members were asked, for the first time, to sign Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs). Staff voted 80-20 against the changes which, they said, would ban the Independent Education Union from meeting with members on school grounds, or discussing with them workplace issues.
They have previously accepted the school's offer on pay and conditions.
"The workplace is now in deep dispute over form rather than function," union secretary Glen Seidel (right) said.
"...There is a lot of resentment there."
Mr Seidel said the outcome could be a landmark ruling for SA independent schools, most of which were set to begin AWA negotiations in coming weeks.
"It will probably set the precedent for the rest of the state's non-Catholic private schools. PAC is the vanguard, everyone else is looking at them."
He said it was unlikely teachers would strike. "The most that may happen is some teachers boycott a Saturday morning game of school cricket.
"These are not your usual militant union members."
The teachers have gone back to management with a proposed "memorandum of understanding", which would bypass WorkChoices while maintaining the agreed working and pay conditions.
Mr Seidel said the need for the teachers to take this action made a "mockery" of the laws.
It is unclear whether the school will accept the teachers' position.
Contacted on Friday, PAC Headmaster Kevin Tutt refused to comment.
The issue could take a different tack if the ALP is elected on November 24, with leader Kevin Rudd promising to overhual industrial relations laws.
..............................................................................................
The situation at PAC (a Uniting Church elite college) mirrors that at Sydney Church of England Co-Ed Grammar School (SCESGS) which is also using the WorkChoices legislation to deny teachers basic industrial rights by refusing to negotiate with the IEU.
Staff at SCECGS have been offered a new enterprise agreement that varies the template agreement negotiated between the IEU and the Association of Independent Schools, to the disadvantage of staff.
"SCECGS senior personnel told staff that 'theoretically' the school could dismiss all the teachers if they voted 'no' to the agreement and hold a second vote of the new staff in order to get the agreement passed," said IEU General Secretary Dick Shearman.
"The School Principal and Board have ignored a petition by over 100 staff members...The school has flatly refused to negotiate...(and) is using WorkChoices to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation," he said.
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