Coronavirus QLD: Union takes up fight for stood-down elite school staff

A union has gone in to bat for hundreds of staffers who were stood down from some of Queensland’s most prestigious schools because of the coronavirus crisis, including 35 workers stood down from one southeast Queensland school alone.

THE Independent Education Union of Queensland has gone in to bat for hundreds of staffers stood down from some of Queensland’s most prestigious schools during the coronavirus crisis.

Union delegates will today head to the Fair Work Commission to represent 35 staffers stood down at the controversial Hillcrest Christian College on the Gold Coast as part of a cost-cutting response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The union is also representing workers stood down at the Queensland and Northern Territory branch of the Northern Territory Christian Schools at the Fair Work Commission in a case conferencing application also set to take place this morning.

It comes as the union rallies to help teachers and staff members stood down from more than a dozen other educational institutions throughout the state, including Brisbane Boys College, Somerville House, Rockhampton Grammar School and St Hilda’s School on the Gold Coast.

While he would not comment specifically on today’s mediation sitting involving Hillcrest, IEUQ general secretary Terry Burke said schools needed to properly demonstrate genuine financial hardship to justify standing down staff, especially with the introduction of numerous funding packages by state and Federal governments.

Somerville House , South Brisbane, is one of dozens of schools that let staffers go because of the coronavirus.

Workers affected by school stand-down measures include staffers ranging from teachers to cooks and cleaners at boarding schools which have shed staff due to a decline in student numbers caused by the coronavirus.

“Some schools are already receiving significant government funding, especially for boarding students,” said Mr Burke.

“So if we see schools standing down staff unnecessarily, that’s where we are calling out employers.

“We’ve had quite a number of these cases.”

Hillcrest has been dogged by controversy in recent years, with a number of complaints made to the IEUQ about the practices of the school and its principal Jeff Davis, who has denied any wrongdoing.

The school is also under investigation from the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board.

Some teachers are also upset that they have been stood down to save costs while Mr Davis remains on a lucrative salary, but it is understood he has agreed to a 25 per cent pay cut during the current crisis.

They also questioned why the school had just employed a highly-paid compliance officer at a time when dozens of staff were being stood down.

A spokesman for the school yesterday said Hillcrest lawyers had been working with the union to ‘resolve the matters amicably’ and it was hoped the issue would not need to proceed to a courtroom hearing.

The IEUQ has also taken action against Toowoomba school The Glennie with that case currently before the Fair Work Commission.

Originally published as Coronavirus QLD: Union takes up fight for stood-down elite school staff