Editorial: Some workers are more equal than others

When it comes to pay and conditions, it turns out the louder you squeal, the more lucrative the rewards, writes the editor.

CFMEU workers protesting outside Brisbane’s Parliament House

Premier Steven Miles says he will make no apologies for “looking after workers” in defence of the extraordinary conditions he has granted on pretty well every government construction site.

But he should try telling that to the state’s hardworking nurses, teachers and police officers, who will wake this morning to learn for the first time just how ridiculously generous this Labor government is being to the construction sector, compared with their own.

Days off when it rains? Mr Miles should explain that to police officers who do the hard yards on the beat protecting Queenslanders – and sometimes manning a closed state border – no matter the weather.

A full month off work each year just in rostered days off on top of your usual holidays and flexitime so generous that means you only ever work nine-day fortnights anyway?

Try explaining that to our hardworking nurses, who have to work to rosters that cover seven days a week and 24 hours a day.

An extra $1000 a week in your pocket when the government needs you to work an extra 50km down the road? Mr Miles should sit down with all those amazing young teacher graduates being sent out to do their early-year placements in towns much further away than that and explain why it is that being a member of the militant CFMEU has that entitlement – but not them.

But he won’t. Because he can’t. These conditions are not even in the same workplace universe as what every other public sector employee has access to – let alone those doing the hard yards in the private sector, where workers can only dream of things such as flexitime and guaranteed tenure.

Premier Miles said yesterday that working on “one of our projects should be one of the best jobs you can get”. But why does that not extend to those workers who campaigning MPs like to be photographed with?

Why, for example, is teaching in our state schools not also one of the best jobs you can get? It clearly is not at the moment – based on the latest government data that shows Queensland teachers are quitting in record numbers.

The teachers’ union blames the exodus on demanding workloads and proposed new state laws that it says will diminish the ability of teachers to “maintain safe and orderly schools and consequently safe and effective teaching and learning conditions”.

President Cresta Richardson told the Sunday Mail: “The state government must provide more fully funded support for students who need it, whilst addressing the ever-increasing workload demands of teachers and school leaders.”

Sorry Ms Richardson, but it seems the government has been too busy doing deals with the unions that represent the construction industry to help your members.

It is in that sector that workers are paid a minimum base rate of $156,000 for a 36-hour week, plus a bunch of guaranteed extra allowances for just doing their job, including double-time for every single extra hour ever worked.

Mr Miles again: “Government ... should be an employer of choice.”

Sure. But it isn’t. And it is not just our state’s amazing public school teachers who are struggling.

The latest survey of the state’s 200,000 or so public servants reveal that those on the frontline of crime and health are even unhappier than teachers – with one in five hospital workers saying they want to quit as soon as possible, and four in 10 police officers feeling burnt out.

And so while the Premier claims that he makes no apologies for looking after workers, it seems that in modern-day Queensland, some of those being paid by taxpayers are more equal than others – and it turns out the louder you squeal, the more lucrative the rewards.

HEALTH SYSTEM OVERWHELMED

The scale of the problems facing our health system, and the challenge for minister Shannon Fentiman, has been clearly illustrated by today’s report by Health Reporter Jackie Sinnerton.

Management at Gold Coast University Hospital are putting pressure on staff to clear up beds, even asking every acute ward to identify at least one patient each morning who they can discharge.

Despite being one of the busiest teaching hospitals in the state, all non-clinical and education duties have been put on hold.

The crisis has not been caused by a fresh Covid outbreak or a natural disaster. Instead, executives are blaming the mayhem on ... the school holidays.

But it seems chaos is now the new normal for a health system stretched to the limit. As reported in the Sunday Mail, paramedics lost more than 161,000 hours waiting to transfer patients into overflowing Queensland hospitals last year, taking 44 ambulance crews out of action every day.

With South East Queensland’s population booming, something has to change before our hospitals are overwhelmed.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here