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Teachers and school support staff in Lutheran Schools have voted no to proposed cuts to working conditions by their employer, Lutheran Education Queensland (LEQ).

The no vote (53% of all votes in a recent employee ballot) came after a rare recommendation to reject LEQ’s proposed agreement was made by the union (IEUA-QNT) representing staff in Queensland’s 26 Lutheran schools.

Independent Education Union – Queensland and Northern Territory (IEUA-QNT) Branch Secretary Terry Burke said the union had advised employees to vote no and reject an agreement from LEQ which would have resulted in inferior and substandard working conditions in Queensland Lutheran schools.

Mr Burke said the no vote sent a clear message to LEQ that Lutheran school employees did not want cuts made to current working conditions.

“This is the first time employees in Queensland Lutheran schools have voted no in such a process and they have done so to protect their professional future,” Mr Burke said.

“LEQ was proposing cuts, controls and constraints to working conditions related to job security, wages and workload.

“This would have made Lutheran school staff second-class employees compared to the majority of others working in the Queensland education sector, including state and Catholic schools.

“The no vote is employees very clearly saying to LEQ that they want to retain the contemporary conditions which are provided to others in the Queensland education sector,” he said.

Mr Burke said with over 75 per cent of staff voting in the ballot, the result must be respected by LEQ.

“LEQ must now come back to the negotiating the table to achieve an outcome that respects and recognises the work of its employees,” Mr Burke said.

“In doing so, LEQ must stop its planned cuts and instead listen to its staff – not seek to impose changes on them that threaten working conditions and the future of quality education in Queensland Lutheran schools,” he said.