2 April 2007
The poor behaviour of Shalom Christian College Board is further evidence of the opportunities open to employers under the federal government’s WorkChoices laws. But the laws dont require employers to act unfairly.
“The poor behaviour of Shalom Christian College Board is further evidence of the opportunities open to employers under the federal government’s WorkChoices laws” said IEUA Federal Secretary Lynne Rolley.
“It is disappointing that a religious school catering for indigenous students has chosen to act in such a boorish and non-consultative manner that would seem to be fundamentally at odds with Christian teaching and at odds with any sense of community building” she said.
“While the federal government’s IR laws clearly make unfair behaviour legal it doesn’t actually require employers to behave unfairly.”
“Staff at the College, through their union, have been seeking discussions about a new collective agreement to replace the current agreement for over twelve months. But what they get in return is a take it or leave it AWA offering” said Ms Rolley.
“It is almost mind-boggling that this employer can be so out of step with the principles espoused by the Church itself.”
“In the Uniting Church’s submission to the WorkChoices legislation inquiry, the Church underlined the value of collective bargaining as part of the Church seeking to be a responsible employer” she said.
“Indeed the Church stated that it expected its employing bodies to ‘encourage membership of appropriate union or professional association and to take a positive view of the role that unions can play in negotiating agreements, awards, and changes to work systems’ “
“What we know is that these laws are particularly bad for young people just entering the workforce. What is even worse in this situation is the negative role model being displayed by this employer in front of the school community that says ‘we don’t need to act in a fair or good faith manner, we can just behave unilaterally’ “
“Our young people deserve better than this. Certainly the staff at Shalom Christian College deserve better”.
Contact details
Lynne Rolley
Federal Secretary
Ph: 03 9254 1830
Fax: 03 9254 1835
ieu@ieu.org.au