Labour Day: Strength in unity

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 129 No 4, 7 June 2024, page 16.

Labour Day weekend saw members across the state march to acknowledge 135 years of QTU achievement. We also marched to show the power of the union movement in holding employers accountable for their actions. But most of all we marched to celebrate our members and to continue the fight for improved teaching and learning conditions via the current Valuing Our Profession campaign.

On 9 January 1889, 23 teachers and principals from schools across the colony of Queensland met in Brisbane to establish the first teachers’ union on this continent – the Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU).

Today, more than 48,000 educators in Queensland schools and TAFEs choose to belong to the QTU. Helping members in times of difficulty, negotiating better pay and conditions, and working on behalf of members to promote the teaching profession are things we have done for 135 years, and we will continue to do for many more to come.

The protection of the profession, safe and healthy workplaces, attraction and retention, workload, and the teacher shortage continue to be themes that we must address. One of the core priorities of the Union this year is holding our employer to account – industrially, professionally, and legally.

This priority builds on past campaigns and will ensure our members’ working conditions are protected, now and in the future. Many conditions we often take for granted exist because of the strength of the QTU. This strength comes from members engaging in Labour Day marches and campaign rallies, but also from their interaction with their QTU Reps in workplaces, attendance at branch meetings, and participation in the broader democratic structures of the Union.

Additionally, we know that our teachers and school leaders are giving 100 per cent for their students. This year, we also marched to ensure there is appropriate support and resourcing for safe and healthy workplaces, and to shine a light on resource funding gaps and to push governments to address them in the bilateral school funding agreement currently being negotiated.

The campaign continues for a fair National School Reform Agreement, as well as an improved, revised school resourcing model and additional funding in the state budget to address students’ complex needs, and this was also highlighted on Labour Day.

Right now, only 1.3 per cent of state schools are at 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard (SRS) - the minimum funding level. Fixing this is urgent, and the only way to ensure our students have the support they need to succeed.

The strength of the union movement is visibly recognised when members participate in Labour Day marches. The combined voice of more than 48,000 teachers and school leaders is a tremendous force to promote teachers, school leaders and public education.

Labour Day in 2024 once again highlighted that there is strength in unity, strength in numbers, and strength when we stand in solidarity together.