New housing policy on the way
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 124 No 1, 15 February 2019, page no. 23
After a decade of campaigning, QTU pressure finally looks set to culminate in a departmental teacher housing policy.
Grassroots member activism, facilitated through the QTU’s State Accommodation Committee, has persuaded the department to create a policy underpinning the procedures associated with the provision of subsidised teacher housing.
Such a document was first promised roughly a decade ago. The department initially started work in 2016 but then suspended it. Consequently, draft work presented to the QTU in late 2017 and 2018 was so underdeveloped that State Council resolved to ballot members. The resolutions, which included a teacher housing campaign and the consideration of industrial action, and the anger of QTU activists saw policy development recommence.
A greatly improved draft policy was presented to the QTU on 11 December, and the Union now expects the policy to be in place in early 2019.