Editorial - Affiliation: we are stronger together
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 128 , 21 July 2023, page no.5
I’ve seen a fair bit of discourse on social media about the QTU’s affiliation to the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU), with some even suggesting it’s a front for the QTU to make political donations. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The reality is that the QTU knows what you all know: we are stronger together. As an affiliate of the QCU we can collaborate and learn from each other. We are also able to harness the strength of the Queensland union movement when we are negotiating with the state’s largest employer (and your employer), the Queensland Government.
Affiliation is something that strengthens the QTU and our campaigns. When we have rallied outside Parliament House, our numbers have been boosted by our fellow unions. When we have campaigned in the broader community, we have done so with our fellow unions. Changes to the government wages policy were also secured by working with the unions affiliated with the QCU.
Over the school holidays, the Queensland Council of Unions NAIDOC Awards recognised the QTU for its work in improving the salary and conditions of community teachers, namely those teaching First Nations languages. At QTU State Conference, delegates engaged with Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union (QNMU) Secretary Kate Veach, QCU Campaigns Coordinator Gabe Kramer, QCU Acting Secretary Jacqueline King, and ACTU Voice Campaign Lead Rachel Bos. Collectively, the union movement in Queensland works with, learns from, campaigns with, and wins for members – and the vehicle for achieving this is the QCU.
QTU members are represented at the QCU on various committees, the QCU Executive and on the management committee. We also hold positions on many of the regional Trades and Labour Councils, ensuring that QTU members’ views are not only represented on the peak body but also at the local level. I am privileged to be the current Honorary President of the QCU.
When it comes to achieving wins for members, the words “united we win, divided we beg” couldn’t be more true. In relation to education and TAFE, the QTU works collaboratively with the United Workers Union, the Together Union and the QNMU. The Comprehensive Review of School Resourcing is evidence that, together, the education unions can win. Other recent collective wins include changes to industrial relations legislation, the introduction of the psychosocial code of practice, and the new sexual harassment directive. The recognition of years of service, rather than full-time equivalent service for salary progression, and sharing of paid parental leave between primary caregivers were achieved through the collective claims of public sector unions. These wins applied to workers across the public service, just like the state wages policy which resulted in per annum salary increases of 4 and 3 per cent and the introduction of the COLA in EB10.
The QCU is also the vehicle through which QTU members access workplace health and safety representatives training.The Union also accesses, adopts, and adapts QCU resources when training members on changes to industrial and workplace health and safety laws, such as the new psychosocial code of practice. Additionally, the QTU has access to resources and support through the Young Workers Hub (YWH), which provides teachers with information to help students engage in industry experience and supports new and beginning teachers to join broader union campaigns.
To conflate the affiliation with the QCU with politics is at best a misrepresentation of the role of the union peak body, and at worst, a lie.
Likewise, the QTU’s affiliation with the Australian Education Union (AEU) gives our profession a voice in decisions made on a national level. We work collaboratively with the AEU to make submissions on workplace law changes and education laws.
We have representatives on the National Teacher Workforce Plan taskforce, as well as representatives working on the National School Resourcing Agreement. The AEU President actively represents teachers and school leaders across Australia on Education International and on other international bodies. The QTU holds three AEU Executive positions, as well as positions on Yalukit Yulendj, the First Nations members committee, and the National Principals’ Committee. We also participate in new educator, federal and women’s conferences.
With just over 200,000 members, the AEU is the second largest union in Australia, and works tirelessly to ensure that the voices of teachers and school leaders help shape government policy. This includes not only campaigning for funding for every school and every child, TAFE, and early childhood, but also calling for workload and safety to be front and centre in decision making. It is the AEU that we campaign with on issues such as the National Curriculum and standardised tests such as NAPLAN.
If strength is in numbers, it is difficult then to understand why anyone would think that affiliation is a bad thing. Don’t we as professionals all hold some sort of affiliation? Whether it is to our Union, or of a principal or subject specific association, our affiliations allow us to strengthen our knowledge and refine our practice. Similarly, affiliation with the QCU and AEU means that, as Union members, Queensland’s teachers, school leaders and TAFE educators have the strength of the broader Union movement when we campaign.