An October 4 decision by an Australian state industrial relations arbitration body has ruled in favor of 37 Seventh-day Adventist teachers in the North New South Wales Conference.
An October 4 decision by an Australian state industrial relations arbitration body has ruled in favor of 37 Seventh-day Adventist teachers in the North New South Wales Conference. The teachers, working with a union that represents teachers at independent schools, had applied to the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) to be paid according to the state award, or wage system, rather than the church’s wage scale. The church contested the application made by the teachers.
John Hammond, national director of Adventist Schools Australia, says, “The church has always adhered to a single wage structure to facilitate a system-wide approach to Adventist education, thus providing quality education at an affordable rate to our church members.” However, this ruling places these teachers on the same terms and conditions as teachers in other independent schools in New South Wales rather than on the terms and conditions of colleagues on the church’s Division Wages Schedule in Adventist schools throughout Australia.
“We feel justified that this decision recognized our choice under Australian law,” says Ron Sparke, a teacher at Avondale High School in Cooranbong, New South Wales. “We’re happy that teachers can choose whichever one they want to be on. This was not an attempt to remove the exemption, but to exercise our rights. That was the whole crux of it.”
Non-Adventist teachers working within the Adventist school system in New South Wales are already paid according to the award, but Adventist teachers have been considered “teacher-ministers” and have been paid according to the church pay schedule. Adventist teachers were exempted from the state award by an agreement dating from the early 1970s, but this allowed individuals to apply to be covered by the award. The teachers took their case to the IRC in April this year.
“This was an unusual exemption,” says Carol Matthews, an Independent Education Union (IEU) industrial officer, “and there was no procedure set out for how you come under the award. It wasn’t even clear that such an exemption could be granted under the industrial acts provision as they currently exist.”
Matthews reports that several teachers had approached the IEU over the past four or five years about working under the award. In the 18 months before the case went to arbitration, a “significant number of people contacted us and said they wished to take the matter further.”
“With this decision, we now have a dilemma in trying to resolve the situation in the North New South Wales Conference, while not wanting to burden the system in other conferences,” says Dennis Reye, associate director for Adventist Schools Australia. He explains that in most other states the independent schools award is not as generous as the church’s; they are considered a “safety net rather than a real wage.”
Teachers under the New South Wales union award may receive more generous long-service leave entitlements, and paid maternity leave (the church currently provides 12 months unpaid maternity leave). Other entitlements and benefits are yet to be negotiated, with the IEU maintaining that teachers remunerated under the Independent Schools Award should also receive the benefits of those on the Division Wages Schedule. That includes such things as school fee discounts for dependent children.
Kingsley Wood, secretary-treasurer for the church in Australia, says, “The change in their disposable income will depend on whether or not, and how, they choose to pay tithe. Under the award, teachers may choose whether they want tithe deducted or not. Under the Division Wages Schedule, employees receive a salary where their tithing obligation is considered to have been fulfilled.”
“The biggest wage impact,” says Reye, “will be with those holding positions of responsibility who choose the award. They may receive substantially higher wages. The independent award does not cover principals, because that is negotiated separately.”
Matthews agrees that pressure will be placed “on the system, particularly with ‘promotional’ positions and administrative positions. That’s really where the greatest difference is.”
“What this means is that we will end up with two different pay structures in the North New South Wales Conference,” says Reye, “with the financial and philosophical problems and dilemmas that this creates.”
The church’s education representatives will meet with the IEU to finalize pay and conditions for those teachers who have chosen to work under the award. For the 37 teachers, any pay and condition differences will be backdated to the date they applied through the union to be covered by the award.
“We wish they hadn’t taken the action they did, but we hold no ill will toward any of the teachers,” says Reye. “Recognizing the teachers’ right under law to make this application, the education department has no intention of marginalizing these teachers.”
On reflection, he recognizes that decisions impacting on teachers made in the early 1990s may have been the catalyst that led them to consider the independent teachers award.
“We’ve learned that, as a system, we need to communicate more effectively with teachers when we’re considering changing policies. They need to be informed as we go along. If things had been handled differently then, this may not have happened.”
Sparke agrees: “If things had been handled differently back then, it may not have gone this far. But I think this may be a healthy move for the church, because the church now has to recognize standards in the workplace.”
Hammond concludes, “The court case is a significant one, being the first time our longstanding exemption has been challenged by Adventist teachers.”