Catholic school teachers, support staff to stop work over pay dispute

More than 100 teachers are expected to stop work for one hour from 8.30am, including those at Mater Dei Catholic College and Kildare Catholic College - two of the city's biggest schools.

The Independent Education Union of Australia began negotiations for a new enterprise agreement with Catholic schools in February.

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IEUA organiser Anthony Telford said there has been "very little progress" even after nine months of talks.

"We've found it incredibly frustrating trying to get the employers to even attend bargaining meetings and in fact we haven't met since late October," Mr Telford said.

"It has been a very long negotiating process and the lack of progress is increasingly frustrating for us as an organisation and our members individually."

As well as a five per cent pay rise, the union is also pushing for schools to reduce the burden of administrative tasks on teachers to allow more time for lesson planning.

"The more time teachers spend on administrative tasks and tasks that aren't related to their core business of teaching ... it just takes away from the learning of the kids," Mr Telford said.

In a statement provided to The Daily Advertiser, the Catholic Education Diocese of Wagga said it was committed to working collaboratively with staff and the union to deliver improved pay and conditions.

"We will continue to negotiate in good faith to deliver an outcome that recognises the incredible hard work and commitment of our teachers and support staff while keeping our schools affordable," the statement said.

The diocese said it has made multiple commitments in response to the IEUA's claims, including to match the pay increases awarded to public school teachers, address inequity in pay for support staff compared to the public system and provide teachers with an additional pupil-free day.

The Industrial Relations Commission has handed down its decision to provide NSW public school teachers with a backdated 2.5 per cent pay rise for 2022 and a three per cent pay rise for 2023 - which teachers have described as "insulting".

According to the IEUA, Catholic schools regularly impose the NSW government's wages policy on their teachers despite not being required to.

Mr Telford said the stop work action set to take place in Wagga and across NSW and the ACT has been organised for minimal impact on schools and students.

"The action being for just one hour, we're trying to get our message across to the employers that our members are really not happy about the lack of progress ... but trying to minimise the disruption," he said.

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