Queensland teacher wages fall behind
Wed 17 June 2009
Josh Cummings, Journalism
While other teachers in Australia received a substantial pay rise, Queensland teachers were left out in the cold.
In April 2009, Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) president Steve Ryan announced there would be an exodus of teachers from Queensland if salaries continued to lag.
QTU honorary president Lyn Winch told the Sunshine Coast Daily Queensland teachers were not being treated fairly, that the future of teaching faced uncertainty and ultimately students would suffer.
“Incentives are needed to attract quality people to the teaching profession,” Ms Winch said.
Vice-president of the QTU Julie Brown said she was certain new teachers were already heading interstate.
“Visit university campuses around Queensland, young teachers are hearing about other states and that’s where they’re going,” Ms Brown said.
Ms Brown said there was a shortage of secondary school teachers, and South Queensland organiser Kevin Bates agreed.
“Schools within the south Queensland area have gone for more than 18 months with a number of vacant positions for secondary teachers,” Mr Bates said.
Statistics provided from the Australian Education Union (AEU) indicated Queensland teachers were among the highest paid seven years ago.
The government offered Queensland teachers a fixed 12.5 per cent increase over three years which Member of Parliament Lillian van Litsenburg said would place Queensland teachers as the second highest paid in Australia, but Mr Bates said that was “preposterous”.
“Even at that level, the wages that would be delivered would put us, for example around about $A8, 000 a year worse off than Western Australia if you just look at those raw numbers,” Mr Bates said.
“Given this situation I can't support a huge wage rise … in Western Australia they are actually sacking public servants including teachers,” Ms van Litsenburg said.
“The QTU never acknowledges that Queensland teachers have higher Government superannuation than any teachers in Australia.”
Enterprise Bargaining (EB) was the only process in which an employee was able to gain a wage increase during its time.
EB negotiations started in November, 2008, expiring on April 30, 2009, but under law the agreement continued until they were replaced.
Mr Bates said teacher wage increases were critical.
“Each month that goes by the pressure mounts to get a wage rise for teachers obviously, because they’re going without,” Mr Bates said.
On Tuesday, May 19, 2009, 4000 Queensland teachers rallied in front of parliament house.
Statistics from the QTU indicated Queensland principals were being paid up to $A12, 000 less than other states and territories.
“I want to emphasise enterprise bargaining isn’t just about pay, it’s about resources provided by the government,” Ms Brown said.
Ms Brown said there needed to be leave time for first-time teachers, because it could be daunting for them walking into a classroom and coping with classroom atmosphere.
“Teachers work long hours and don’t receive pay for the extra hours they work,”
Education Minister Geoff Wilson told Seven News Queensland.
But QTU said they were completely justified for seeking pay rates on par with their counterparts interstate.
“It is a message to the minister and to the government that 20,000 teachers across the state met on that day, numbers we’ve never seen before that teachers are very unhappy with the way the government is managing this process,” Mr Bates said.
“Our people will continue to take industrial action because they are angry,” Ms Brown said.
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