‘We’ve been quiet long enough’: Queensland teachers strike in their thousands

3 months ago 21

Wearing a mask with the word “Silence” crossed out, teacher Lyn was among the thousands of teachers preparing to march to Parliament House on Wednesday.

“We’ve been quiet for long enough, our classroom conditions need to improve,” she said.

Teacher, Lyn, who says she and her colleagues will no longer remain silent.

Queensland’s 50,000 state school teachers have walked off the job for the first time in 16 years – and the Queensland Teachers’ Union has not ruled out further strikes.

“We’ll be updating our members around the state, and then we’ll be considering what our next steps are,” QTU president Cresta Richardson said.

“And if that is further industrial action, then that’s what that will be.

“We can afford an Olympic Games, but we can’t afford to pay our teachers properly.”

In Brisbane, more than 4000 teachers were set to march from the Convention and Exhibition Centre in South Bank across the river to Parliament House.

Jack Diamond was among them.

Diamond, who spent four years teaching in a Catholic school, said it was important that state school teachers took up the fight for all their colleagues across Queensland, including those in private schools.

“I feel as though when it comes to those types of systems like Brisbane Catholic Education, the pay is often trying to catch up to QTU, so it’s really important that QTU is setting that standard as well – especially for those sort of smaller guys that don’t have as much bargaining and negotiation power,” he said.

Teacher Jack Diamond (left) at the rally.

Negotiations with the state government stalled last week, prompting teachers from Queensland’s 1200 state schools to walk out of classrooms on Wednesday.

More than half a million students have been affected by the strike.

Richardson said some schools had been forced to close, but the Education Department insisted that all schools remained open with adequate supervision for students.

The strike action was backed by more than 95 per cent of QTU members, following the state government’s second offer of revised pay and conditions.

That offer included a wage increase of 8 per cent across three years, as well as additional payments for extracurricular activities, including a $100 allowance for each night spent at a school camp, as well as a $400 teacher registration subsidy.

The government proposed to include a new salary level, which would come into effect on the third year of the agreement, and flatten the pay scale, reducing the time it took for a teacher to reach the “senior teacher” pay bracket by four years.

But the union said the offer would have put Queensland teachers among the lowest paid in the country by the end of the agreement.

“We are united and dedicated to turning around the exodus of burnt-out teachers and school leaders from our schools,” Richardson said.

“Our issues are really statewide, rural and remote and in the city – chronic shortages of teachers, increased workload as a result, soaring occupational violence, and serious issues that require statewide attention.”

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the state had been negotiating with the union for months.

“We have held 18 formal meetings over the past five months and remain at the table to finalise an agreement that supports and values our teachers,” Langbroek said.

The union’s general secretary Kate Ruttiman said Wednesday’s strike was the largest teachers’ strike in Queensland’s history.

Yet there was still a teacher shortage, she said.

“It is historic,” she said.

Ruttiman said the LNP government made a commitment during the election that it would address the teacher shortage, but argued it had not done that.

“The offer that they have presented does little to attract and retain teachers in our profession,” she said.

Opposition education spokeswoman Di Farmer said the state had been “too busy playing politics” to properly address teachers’ needs, and had given teachers an “insulting offer”.

“No one should have to walk off the job just to be heard … Queensland teachers deserve respect, not silence from [Premier] David Crisafulli,” she said.

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