Dear Supporter We did it! After 16 months of ongoing action by Queensland Catholic school staff and community support from across the state, a new agreement takes effect from today! Endorsed by employees, the new agreement provides a range of enhancements to their working rights and conditions. Amongst the significant outcomes for IEUA-QNT members is a new top automatic salary of $101,000 for experienced classroom teachers in Queensland Catholic schools – helping to address the decade long wage disparity compared to their interstate colleagues. The achievement of this salary has also set a new benchmark for the remuneration of teachers across the state with the Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) signalling the need to reach comparable salary levels with Catholic school teachers in their recent negotiations with the State Government. The new agreement also contains a range of enhancements for all school staff, from counsellors to school support staff including those who only work during term time. For these term time staff, the agreement puts in place steps to help them gain access to additional work hours that may arise at their school – maximising their potential hours of work, and consequently their income. The new agreement also includes measures to help manage the workloads of Queensland teachers, protecting the time they have to provide the high quality education their students deserve. On behalf of IEUA-QNT members across the state – I wanted to thank you for your support in standing alongside members to help ensure all staff are recognised, respected and rewarded for their contribution to quality education in Queensland Catholic schools. To learn more about what the new agreement means for Queensland Catholic school staff, please visit www.3rs.org.au. To keep up with the latest work of our union in protecting our profession you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter. Thanks again. Andrew Elphinstone Teacher and IEUA-QNT President