QTU: Proud, professional and united
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 131 No 1, 20 February 2026, page no 5.
2025 was a significant year for QTU members, with a protracted EB11 campaign, hard-fought and punctuated by two days of protected industrial action, providing a vivid demonstration of union solidarity. Teachers and school leaders walked off the job, not once but twice. It wasn’t easy, but our members held firm in pursuit of improved salaries and working conditions, trying to make state schools the best they can be.
As we head into the 2026 school year, it’s important to reflect upon what we achieved, including significant growth in QTU membership right across the state and in all membership types. More than 5,500 new members joined the QTU in the second half of the 2025 school year as a result of the EB11 campaign. Our newest members joined with their colleagues in calling for professional respect, safety at work, and a fair pay rise.
We welcomed new graduates beginning their careers, along with some mid-career teachers and school leaders and a number of former members who restored their membership for the first time in a while. These new members joined tens of thousands of their colleagues standing up for themselves and one another and, ultimately, the teaching profession.
Membership surpassed 50,000 for the first time in our 137-year history. The significance of this milestone should not be overlooked in a world in which some suggest belonging to a union is not needed, or that it is not part of the modern work environment. Untrue. Our members know that in their Union, they belong — that it is the collective force that comes from standing together that makes the difference.
2026 will see us continue to work collectively with and for all QTU members right across our great state. In the school sector, we head into a lengthy arbitration process. Members should understand that arbitration is not quick, nor simple, but be assured that our focus is sharp and our determination unwavering. Our team is committed to achieving a fair outcome on salaries, and working conditions to address the teacher shortage crisis and strengthen our industrial and professional rights and entitlements.
We will also continue the campaign to ensure our schools are resourced properly, as planning continues for the implementation of the bilateral schools funding agreement between the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments.
This year will see the start of bargaining for new enterprise agreements in both TAFE and CQU, following an extensive member consultation process to determine our logs of claims. With the 2032 Olympics fast approaching, the work and value of the public provider of vocational education and training have never been more important, as the Queensland economy continues to grapple with skills shortages across a range of key industries. Ensuring our TAFE and CQU members are respected and have appropriate resourcing, support, and remuneration to train the next generation of workers will be a key focus for the QTU in 2026.
Late last year, the QTU Executive met to determine the Union's priorities for 2026. These priorities will underpin the operations of the QTU and the campaigns and services we provide for members for the next 12 months.
The three 2026 QTU priorities are:
- Advancing our profession and workplaces - We aim to enhance and preserve members' working conditions and ensure secure, safe, healthy, and properly resourced workplaces.
- Holding the employer to account and addressing the education crisis - We will continue to work with our members on addressing the teacher shortage, the impacts of occupational violence, and the challenges presented by complex student behaviour and inclusion policy and resourcing.
- Championing respect and reconciliation - The QTU will continue to focus on demanding professional respect, cultural respect, and First Nations respect in our workplaces and across the community.
In my visits to workplaces so far this year, I have made a point of trying to meet the newest and longest serving members. Speaking to these members and hearing their stories makes me feel proud to have the privilege of working for the Queensland Teachers’ Union every day, with the aim to make our members’ working lives better and the Queensland public education system the best it can be.
If you recently joined the QTU, I want to offer you a sincere welcome. Our Union has a long and proud history of being the most democratic, professional, and industrial voice of Queensland teachers and school leaders in our great state schools and TAFE.
If you have been a member for a while now, or even for decades, I want to thank you for your dedication to the profession and to your Union.