eNews - 16 February 2022

Unions secure COVID-19 leave changes

The State School Teachers’ Union of WA is pleased that members will now be able to access COVID-19 leave immediately if needed, with the requirement to first exhaust other forms of leave now being lifted.

SSTUWA President Pat Byrne said: “This is the direct result of extensive lobbying by UnionsWA and affiliated public sector unions, including the SSTUWA, through meetings and public statements."

“The union’s consistent position has been that to keep schools open you need to keep teachers safe.

“The SSTUWA will continue to pursue improvements in a range of areas including provision of PPE, a focus on improving air quality and managing access to schools and TAFEs.

“We reiterate our previous requests for parents and the broader community to recognise the challenges schools and TAFEs face, to understand the inevitability of disruption in coming weeks and to be patient and supportive as staff work to keep students and themselves as safe as possible.”

Executive Directives

Executive directives in relation to 2021 EBA Negotiations that were issued by the SSTUWA on 9 December 2021 remain in force while negotiations continue.

The directives are:

• No member is to participate in any performance management or performance review processes/meetings. This includes the Principal Professional Review process (PPR).

(This refers to performance management only, it does not include sub-standard performance processes).

• Members are not to attend any (whole or part of) staff meetings held:
  • In accordance with clause 9.3 of the General Agreement 2019 (i.e. the five hours per term).
  • Outside instructional hours (before/after school; during lunch or recess; for school leaders this includes regional, cluster and network meetings).
  • During DOTT time.

This does NOT include meetings called to manage the Education Health Order (Webex, Teams, etc).

• School leaders are not to complete the School Resourcing System (SRS) monthly budget check.

You can get more information and advice on the directives here.

COVID-19 related survey

We need your assistance in assessing the situation in schools regarding COVID-19 related curriculum delivery. Please complete this survey It will take one minute of your time and assist the SSTUWA considerably. The survey is open now and will close at 7am Monday 21 February 2022.

Proposed rule change

A proposed rule change is necessary as a result of State Council endorsing a change to SSTUWA rules which reflects the fact that the SSTUWA is no longer an association incorporated under the Associations Incorporations Act 2015.

Read more here.

Committee nominations are open

Nominations are called for the following SSTUWA committees for 2022. You can nominate now for these committees, including:

For full information and nomination forms go here.

Education and Training

Looking for some professional learning in the safety of your own home or office? Join the SSTUWA online for some powerful professional learning opportunities online throughout 2022. Live 60-minute events, three-hour events and full days sessions are available - over 30 events covering a range of topics across K-TAFE.

Visit www.sstuwa.org.au/training and click on the Online Training Tab to view or register in any of the online events.