In 2024, the IEU recouped $2.3 million in underpayments for members
The newspaper of the Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT Branch (vol 45 #4) June 2025 PP 100000871 ISSN No: 0728-4845
WORKERS COMPENSATION OUR FIGHT TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS
Clockwise from above: Unions rally against proposed changes to workers compensation in Sydney; IEU Secretary Carol Matthews and Deputy Secretary David Towson at the Sydney rally; union members rally in Wollongong; and unions rally in Liverpool.
Carol Matthews Secretary The IEU has joined other unions in calling on the NSW government to fix its ill-conceived overhaul of workers compensation laws. Unions have been campaigning for weeks against the proposed changes. The Bill, which passed the NSW lower house on 3 June, will make it much more difficult for employees suffering psychological injuries to get the support they need. As Newsmonth went to press, the upper house still had to consider the Bill. The IEU will update members on the outcome as soon as it is known. The government’s Bill aims to cut benefits for people suffering psychological injuries after 2½ years, with medical treatment cut off after 3½ years. To receive long-term support, an employee would need to suffer a whole person impairment (WPI) rating of 31 per cent rather than the current figure of 15 per cent. The NSW Greens and the Coalition have indicated they will not support this aspect of the Bill in the upper house.
“A scheme dependent on the suffering of women is not sustainable.” Under the Bill, workers who sustain psychological injuries can only claim compensation if their injury is caused by an “event” of the type specified in the Bill. There is a narrow list of events, including being subjected to violence or the threat of violence, witnessing a traumatic incident or being the victim of bullying or racial or sexual harassment. The government had also intended to require a worker who suffered an injury because of bullying or racial or sexual harassment to get a ruling from the Fair Work Commission before they could access support. This requirement was dropped following union pressure. Union campaigining also prompted the government to include excessive work demands as a cause of injury for which an employee could claim. However, if “reasonable management action” such as demotion, dismissal, reclassification or performance appraisal was a significant cause of the injury, the worker cannot claim. Unions still consider the Bill to be unfair. Those most likely to need mental health care and support are essential workers in the health, emergency services and education sectors. The proposed changes would overwhelmingly affect women, who form a big proportion of the health and education workforce.
This is why the IEU joined rallies throughout NSW in the past few weeks. The rallies forced the government to back down on some of its harsher changes. But this is not enough. Harmful proposals The changes, driven by NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, will make it almost impossible for working people to access long-term care and support for psychological injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The proposed reforms would punish teachers and school support staff, as well as staff in the care and community sectors, who are already at higher risk of psychological harm from heavy workloads and high-stress, emotionally demanding environments. Even worse, the changes will not reduce or prevent workplace psychological injuries. A Unions NSW survey of more than 10,000 essential workers – teachers, disability workers, firefighters, nurses and emergency services personnel – found the proposed changes will put them at extreme risk of further harm or severe financial hardship. Cutting off working people from mental health support and care puts them at risk of increased debt, as well as stress and anxiety and the breakdown of family relationships. Continued on page 4
Slow progress on an EA for Catholic systemic schools The IEU has been bargaining since October last year for new enterprise agreements (EAs) to apply to teachers and general employees in 10 NSW and ACT Catholic dioceses. Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese (CSPD) is bargaining with the other employers but for a separate EA that the IEU expects will generally reflect the main EA. Broken Bay has its own EA and Work Practices Agreement (WPA), finalised in 2024. The parties have been exchanging draft clauses, but we are still a fair way from finalising the terms of the EA. As at the time of writing, there are still key issues outstanding. The IEU has not received a response from employers to drafting issues raised in mid-April
and the specific annexures in the EA applying to each diocese are also not yet agreed. Pay rates for teachers in the ACT are not settled as members are unhappy with a proposal by Catholic Education Canberra & Goulburn to tie salaries for teachers in Catholic schools to rates which may be lower than rates ultimately achieved for teachers in ACT government schools. Slow progress is also a concern because the employers have signalled they wish to unreasonably delay the start of the new non-initial primary carer’s parental leave provisions. Employers have agreed that partners who take parental leave to be the primary carer can access the 12 weeks’ paid leave within two years of the date of birth
rather than one year as at present, but they wish to defer the start of the benefit.
Addressing workloads Union organisers are continuing to meet dioceses directly to discuss the Work Practice Agreements to achieve improvements to address teacher workload. The union is disappointed with the rejection by employers of our claim to match workload improvements for teachers consistent with the 2024 NSW government school settlement. These improvements are: • briefings (and any other before and after school meetings) to be included within the 10 hours of meetings per term, and
• at least four of eight pupil-free days provided each year from 2025 to 2027 are to be teacher-directed (that is, used by teachers for their own or collaborative planning or preparation, as a form of additional release).
Members are continuing to press for these improvements by signing the IEU petition. Next steps Ask your IEU organiser to visit your workplace to discuss these issues and encourage any colleagues who have not yet joined the union to do so. Carol Matthews Secretary