Workers Educational Association - Hunter Trading AS Atwea College And Alesco Secondary College

APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF THE ATWEA COLLEGE ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2025

Application for approval of the Atwea College Enterprise Agreement 2025

[1] Workers Educational Association - Hunter trading as Atwea College And Alesco Secondary College (the Employer) has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Atwea College Enterprise Agreement 2025 (the Agreement) pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] The Agreement will apply to employees who are covered by the Educational Services (Post-Secondary Education) Award 2020, Educational Services (Schools) General Staff Award 2020 and Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020.

The Commission raised the following issues with the Employer which are relevant to whether employees are better off overall under the Agreement compared to the relevant Awards:

1. Clauses 1.6 and 5.1(c) of the Agreement provide for different spans of hours. Clarification was sought regarding the correct span of hours.

2. The Agreement appeared to be silent on shift penalties despite defining the span of hours as 6am to 8pm in clause 1.6 and stating in clause 5.1(c) that 'the span of hours of work will be between 8:00 am to 9:00 pm or as otherwise stated in each employee's contract'. Employees under schedule A of the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020 and clause 21 of the Educational Services (Post-Secondary Education) Award 2020 are entitled to a 115% loading for a shift finishing after 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm, respectively. This may be a concern for those employees who would have otherwise been entitled to shift penalties for duties performed after 6:30 pm.

Section 190 Undertakings

[3] The Employer provided written undertakings to address the above BOOT issues. A copy of the undertakings is attached as Attachment A. I am satisfied that the undertakings will not cause financial detriment to any employee covered by the Agreement and that the undertakings will not result in substantial changes to the Agreement. The undertakings are taken to be a term of the Agreement.

Section 186, 187, 188 and 190

Subject to the undertakings referred to above, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187, 188 and 190 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

Section 183 Bargaining Representatives

The Independent Education Union of Australia (IEU) being a bargaining representative for the Agreement, has given notice under s.183 of the Act that it wants the Agreement to cover it.

In accordance with s.201(2), I note that the Agreement covers the IEU.

The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 24 July 2025. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 17 July 2028.

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