Some Catholic high school students chose to stay home on Thursday after unionised teachers and support staff went on strike for half the day.
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About 200 teachers and support staff rallied at Rydges Capital Hill in protest of the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations' refusal to budge on a disputes clause within its proposed new employment agreement.
The Independent Education Union wants the contract to include the right to call in the Fair Work Commission for arbitration on disputes that can't be settled in-house. The commission would rather maintain the status quo, where such a deal hasn't been made in writing.
Catholic Education Office Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn director Ross Fox said it was business as usual at most ACT primary schools on Thursday, though noted a "large cohort" of secondary school students opted to work from home.
"I respect the right of our staff to take the industrial action but I certainly appreciate the dedication and commitment of the staff who were able to supervise the students and provide a learning environment this morning for them and continue the schooling," he said.
The union and the Archdiocese appear unwilling to budge on their approaches to arbitration. Mr Fox said his office saw "no reason to change what's worked and resolved every dispute since 2010".
"Arbitration still has an important part in resolving disputes under the agreement and that's continuing and reflects the situation since 2010," he said.
"We believe we've got an agreement which reflects their dedication with pay rises - in many areas of the economy and other industries pay rises are not occurring, and we're proposing to provide pay rises to staff in the ACT and New South Wales, so we're hoping that the agreement and our intent in the agreement will be recognised by staff and we can pay the pay rises and move forward."
But Independent Education Union NSW/ACT secretary John Quessy said the union wouldn't back down until its demands were formally recognised.
"We need a guarantee in writing in the agreement because we can't trust their word," he said.
Staff at Rosary Primary in Watson will take action on Tuesday.
