THE PROFESSIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL VOICE OF QUEENSLAND’S TEACHERS AND SCHOOL LEADERS IN STATE SCHOOLS AND TAFE FOR MORE THAN 135 YEARS.

During Question Time in the Queensland Parliament on Wednesday May 20, the Queensland Treasurer, in an answer to a question from the opposition, stated:

“We made it clear, and the Premier has made it clear, that there will be a wage freeze for the financial year 2020-21. For the current financial year there will be a wage freeze and that will be delivered. I can assure you, Mr Speaker, and all members of the House that I have been working diligently on that for the Premier, dealing with stakeholders, talking to them productively to work through issues around that. There will be a wage freeze. We will be finding savings, and I have tasked the Treasury to do that, as every treasury must do.”

There is one key problem with the proposition that the government is putting forward. The QTU has a legally binding certified agreement that provides for a scheduled pay rise on 1 July 2020. To implement a pay freeze, the Queensland Government would either have to seek an agreed amendment to the current agreement or legislate to take away the scheduled increase. This would be an unprecedented step and undermine the entire enterprise bargaining system as we have known it for the past 26 years.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?

There are many economic, industrial and moral reasons why such a move to legislate away a scheduled pay increase would be a bad idea, including:

  • EB10 was negotiated in good faith and delivered a balance of salary increases and adjustments to working conditions – by taking away the salary component, the employer would be demonstrating bad faith, undermining any trust in future enterprise bargaining negotiations
  • a pay freeze for TAFE educators now will cause more economic damage to the state's economy, making any post COVID-19 recession much worse
  • It is a bit rich to say you cannot pay the wages of frontline workers when the government continues to pay millions to external consultants in education alone.
  • There has been no consultation or presentation of options for alternative ways to stimulate the economy or any unpacking of what this will actually achieve. We have the time for consultation, now is the time for the government to present its arguments and accept feedback. 
     

More about the issue

So why should the Queensland Government be persuaded to change its mind on a pay freeze for teachers and school leaders?

  • TAFE educators will be spending their pay rise in the Queensland economy and boosting the economic recovery of the state.
  • TAFE educators have been on the front line of the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, transforming the education system to enable remote delivery while supporting other essential workers to keep up safe, all in a remarkably short period of time.
  • Any move to implement a pay freeze would penalise hard-working TAFE educators who have dedicated their careers to public education by significantly reducing their defined benefit superannuation retirement income.

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LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER! Tell your story! 

So, what can YOU do to send the members of the Queensland Parliament the message that a legislated pay freeze for teachers and school leaders is bad policy and bad politics?

Write your MP a message : select the Member of Parliament for your electorate from the dropdown lists of electorates below and email  them a message from your personal email address explaining why you deserve to be treated with respect and why you believe the legally binding certified agreement should be honoured. 

Send a copy of your message to the QTU (nopayfreeze@qtu.asn.au )  so we know your concerns.

Share the link to this page with your colleagues, and encourage them to send a message too.

It is critical that we make our voices heard before the next sitting week of the Queensland Parliament, which commences on Tuesday 16 June.

Click on your electorate for an email link to your MP 

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