Qld teachers to earn $100,000 minimum annually under state government pay deal

Every Queensland state school teacher would be paid six figures in a new deal put forward by the state government following a long-running pay dispute.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek. Picture: Evan Morgan

Teachers have been offered a $1000 regional retention sweetener and new safety measures under the state government’s latest offer to bring drawn-out negotiations with the sector to an end.

But the Queensland Teachers’ Union has signalled it remains unhappy, saying it will let a vote of members decide if the deal gets its “in-principle” support or is rejected.

The latest offer has been dubbed “historic” by Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek, with the government revealing the unchanged 8 per cent pay increase on offer will mean new teachers will be paid more than $100,000 a year by the end of the three-year deal.

QTU president Cresta Richardson said the union would put the offer to its member for “due consideration”, with a vote to be held on Friday.

If the deal is rejected, teachers will end up in industrial court arbitration which could take up to two years.

Negotiations between teachers and the government have been ongoing since at least June, with anger over the offer already sparking the first strike in 16 years in August — in an event that disrupted the families of 560,000 children.

The latest deal adds a $1000 attraction and retention payment for teachers in regional areas, on top of a new safety taskforce to improve working conditions for teachers and stamp out violence.

The offer also includes other incentives and an average principal salary of more than $200,000.

Two student-free days over Easter will also be moved to the end of the year, to allow teachers to have a full break over that period.

Ms Richardson said the safety taskforce was an acknowledgment of what members had been requesting for “quite some time”.

“We really want our members to read the information that we’ve provided, that the governments provided, and make the decision themselves as to whether this is something that they want to accept,” she said.

“It’s a step in the right direction. We need to see meaningful change on this, and if this final offer is to be accepted by our members, then I want to know what the timelines are around when the government is accountable about reducing occupational violence in our schools.”

Mr Langbroek said through meetings and conciliation, the union had given the government more ideas on the things they would like to see in the agreement.

“We’re confident that by looking at the retention and attraction bonuses, by giving beginning teachers $400 and $1000 for other teachers, we’re confident that that will lead to improvements,” Mr Langbroek said.

“I’d be asking teachers to consider this offer in its fullness. This is an offer that, if accepted, will make sure that they are the best remunerated first year beginning teachers in Australia.”

In a separate announcement, the government also revealed its official teacher red tape reduction plan which included upgrading OneSchool, 140 Workplace Health and Safety Officers in schools, cutting paperwork and more.