LNP support of teachers vindicated
Friday, 13 November 2009 13:22
The LNP’s strong support for Queensland teachers has been vindicated in the acceptance by the Government of a fairer pay deal for teachers.
The LNP strongly maintained that Queensland teachers must not be paid less than their interstate counterparts and that a deal should be struck that treated teachers with the professional respect they deserve.The LNP has also expressed concern about the use of 6000 so called “temporary teachers” by the State Government as a cost cutting measure. The pay deal includes better recognition and better pay and conditions for the State’s 6000 temporary teachers.
Queensland teachers do an outstanding job under at times very difficult conditions. Many of them give generously of their own time outside of official school hours.
The latest pay deal which the Queensland Government said could not and would not be agreed to, recognises and improves the pay relative to teachers in other States particularly beginning teachers. It also addresses some of the inequality in the treatment of temporary teachers and creates an improved conditions and higher incentives for the State’s most senior teachers. This latter group the LNP has consistently expressed concern that many would leave teaching unless some action were taken.
It is now very apparent that not only did the Government mislead teachers and Queensland families in saying that it was not possible to offer a better deal but months of damaging disputation and industrial action that has harmed teacher morale, disrupted education and inconvenienced families was unnecessary. Had the Government acted with better faith in the first instance much of the damage could have been avoided.
The LNP would welcome the end of the dispute over this round of enterprise bargaining as appears likely following a ballot of teachers. But I fear that we have just had a lesson from the Government in how NOT to handle a professional workforce and we have seen a high price paid for the damaging way in which the Government has conducted itself.
KEY POINTS OF THE SETTLEMENT WITH QUEENSLAND TEACHERS
- A 12.5% across the board pay rise during the three years of the enterprise bargaining backdated to 1 July;
- A larger increase for beginning teachers making them the best paid in Australia;
- Pro-rata holiday pay for Queensland’s 6,000 so called “temporary teachers” as well as better access to professional development for these teachers
- An additional 2.5% pay rise for a number of teacher levels;
- A newly created pay level of Senior Teacher Level 2 that allows thousands of Queensland long serving teachers to be paid at a higher level on a new band. It is claimed entry to this higher pay level will not be automatic but will be through an as yet uncertain “merit process”.
This means that a large proportion of Queensland's teachers will get well above the 12.5% pay rise. The loophole that the government have exploited with temporary contract teachers whereby they could avoid paying holiday pay have been closed and I expect the government’s use of so called temporary teachers will diminish significantly as a result.