VIEU

March, 2012.

Welcome to the 2012 school year!

We welcome our new staff members, especially our graduate teachers, to our school...and to our IEUVicTas sub-branch of St Francis of the Fields (formerly known as VIEU).

IEUVicTas has sent a booklet about all the upcoming professional development events for experienced teachers as well as great support sessions for graduate teachers.Feel free to ask me for the booklet for you to peruse.

Anyone wishing to join our union...just come and have a chat. I can then give you an application form.

May I suggest that if ever there was a good time to join the union then this is it. This year will be a very important year as the bargaining begins with employers for our new work agreement. If you want to stay informed the best way to do so is to be a union member.

Another very important question to ask is....who __**pays**__ for the lengthy and strategic bargaining required in negotiating all our multi-employer work agreements? The current 3 year agreement ended on the 31st December last year and employers have only just "come to the table" to begin discussions regarding our next work agreement. Employers have not even started to negotiate (still just discussing) so coming to an agreement, which then has to be ratified, is a LONG way off. So, it was the union's foresight (that this exact situation could happen) which led to the union negotiating that pay-rise you all got earlier this year. In the meantime, the meetings will continue throughout this year until an agreement is reached between the Employers' Representative Body (of which there are 7 people) and the Employees' Representatives (of which there are 3 people). So.... who pays for the negotiating on behalf of ALL employees?.....IUEVicTas members' fees!!!! Union members pay for the negotiating which gives ALL employees in Catholic schools their current wages and conditions.

By the way, there are many extra benefits to be gained from being a member of IEUVicTas including Member Health benefits, Member Advantage discounts on travel, restaurants, car hire, movies, etc.

Talk soon.

Gen Hoskin St Francis of the Fields, Strathfieldsaye sub-branch representative.