Make your voice heard
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 130 No 5, 1 August 2025, page no 11.
As I write, QTU members across Queensland are participating in a protected industrial action ballot after rejecting the latest EB offer from the Queensland Government.
Being a registered organisation under the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (QLD), the QTU is afforded a range of rights not available to organisations that do not have that status. But registration also comes with significant responsibilities, including governance and democratic processes that are transparent and accountable.
Under the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (QLD), QTU members are entitled to lawfully ballot for and take part in industrial action in pursuit of a new certified agreement with their employer. This right is only afforded to protected persons under the act — in this case financial members of the QTU.
Participating in a ballot like the current protected industrial action ballot is one of the most public demonstrations of Union power and acts of member collectivism and solidarity.
Over the month of June and into early July, more than 1,000 new members joined the QTU, enabling them to participate in this important process and have a real voice in the future of their profession.
I would like to welcome our newest members and thank them for taking the important step of joining with their colleagues in their workplace as part of the EB11 campaign.
I would also like to recognise the thousands of members who have been members of the QTU for decades and who continue to show up and participate when their Union needs them.
We all have something in common. We care about and know the transformative power of public education. We also care about the status of our profession.
Our real Union power comes from our willingness to stand up for one another collectively in the face of unreasonable demands from our employer. This is in the knowledge that the working conditions of state school teachers and school leaders have a direct impact upon the learning conditions of students enrolled in state schools.
If you have a colleague who has not yet joined the QTU, tell them why you belong and what being a member of the QTU means for you and the colleagues around you.
Ask them to consider joining with you to make our Union and profession even stronger.
They can sign up here.
Real Union = Real Members
Member S: “I had been declared fit to return to work following a period of leave due to serious psychological harm. The department had acknowledged that returning to my previous workplace would carry an unacceptable risk of re-injury, yet it failed to arrange an alternative placement and left me without pay or support for more than 10 weeks. The QTU escalated the matter and secured me a safe interim placement and a secure income.”
Member K: “When my conversion to permanency was rejected, even though I’d been doing the work, doing it well, and doing it consistently, I got in touch with the QTU. The Union put pressure on TAFE and was able to convince them that they’d made the wrong decision. I’ve now been offered, and accepted, a permanent position. The help and support I received from the QTU were outstanding.”