The Independent Education Union of Australia ACT and NSW branch has called on the senator to green-light the bill so staff at independent schools "can gain the right to take legally protected industrial action".

The push comes as Senator Pocock prepares to host the architect of the bill - Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke - as a guest speaker at a town hall meeting in Canberra on Wednesday night.

The government is almost certain to need Senator Pocock's vote in order to pass the Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill, which it is rushing to do before the end of the year.

The union movement has turned up the heat on the former Wallabies captain in recent days, inundating his office with emails.

The Canberra Times understands that representatives from the United Workers Union even set up a dining table outside his electorate office on Tuesday to serve up a dish of "higher wages".

Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT Acting Secretary Carol Matthews said "this new legislation updates the rules for multi-employer bargaining and removes many of the complex legal restrictions that are holding back wages and conditions".

"As it stands, employees in independent schools cannot get assistance from the Fair Work Commission if bargaining breaks down, because the schools are offering a multi-enterprise agreement. In no circumstances can these employees take protected industrial action," she said.

Senator Pocock has yet to make a decision on how he will vote, stating he is awaiting the Senate inquiry report into the bill, which is due on November 17.

He previously called for the omnibus bill to be split and wanted more time to examine the "single interest" stream, which would allow easier access to multi-employer bargaining for employers in similar industries or the same location.

Alex Thompson, a history teacher at Canberra Grammar School, said "when bargaining is delayed, we have few ways of getting the employer to the table, leaving staff relying on the goodwill of schools for any pay rise".

David Caton, a teacher at Daramalan College in Dickson, said "under the current industrial relations system, there is no fairness for teachers and support staff. It's highly unlikely we would take industrial action, but we should have the right to do so in bargaining for a better deal. Employers can act collectively, we should have that right as well".

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However, Professor Graeme Orr, from the University of Queensland School of Law, said the union "would like the best of both worlds: to efficiently bargain for multi-employer agreements (eg. all non-Catholic independent schools) and potentially strike to support such sector-wide conditions".

He said the Independent Education Union could try and object to the current multi-enterprise agreements and seek to 'enterprise' bargain at each school separately, which would allow staff to take lawful strike action, but only within each school.

"That's a catch-22: there are hundreds if not thousands of such schools, and it'd be a huge resource and coordination problem for the union to bargain at each school separately," Professor Orr said.

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