Queensland public school teachers set to strike

Queensland teachers are gearing up for a 24-hour strike, and it’s about time! After a rally of 500 teachers and supporters in Brisbane, the action has been backed by an overwhelming majority of Queensland Teachers’ Union members.

Teachers are overworked, underpaid and burnt out. This is hardly surprising when full-time teachers in Australia report working 50 hours a week. Teachers also require a minimum of three years at university, yet on graduation are paid less than sales representatives, real-estate agents and police, none of whom require a degree.

The strike was called after the state government’s insulting pay offer of 8 percent over three years, after real wages had been driven down in recent years. While the Liberal National Party government is spending $147.9 million on police equipment and $3.8 billion on venues for the Olympics, teachers can’t afford to live in the suburbs where they teach.

The QTU’s strike action is an excellent step forward. Part of the demand is “nation-leading salaries”, but the union leaders have refused to put a figure on what they’re pursuing in negotiations. A seven-year teacher on the Gold Coast earns $20,000 less than a seven-year teacher 30 minutes away in New South Wales. With all teachers being underpaid across the country relative to other qualified professions, there’s much to fight for.

This problem didn’t begin with the newly elected LNP state government. Under the previous Labor government, our wages fell 6.5 percent behind the Brisbane Consumer Price Index.

Workloads have been a feature of every negotiation over the past decade, but they’ve only gotten worse. A key reason has been that the union leaders refused to call strikes against the Labor government despite majority votes of union members favouring action.

Strikes demonstrate how critical workers are to the system. Withholding our labour is our most important weapon to fight bosses and governments. The Education Department is scrambling to pretend like it’s “business-as-usual” at schools this week. But with tens of thousands of union members set to strike, the government will be hard-pressed to keep schools open.

Premier David Crisafulli is in for a serious showdown with public servants—many workplace agreements are due for renegotiation. Firefighters are balloting for strike action, while nurses are getting ready to escalate to work stoppage as well. Who’s going to treat the patients? Extinguish the fires? Teach the students? Not David Crisafulli.

It will take more than one day to challenge the government, but this is a great start.