Nurses, prison guards join teacher fight against Covid vaxx pay cuts

Nurses and Corrective Services staff will join teachers in a fight against harsh State Government measures to dock the pay of education workers over 18 weeks for “serious misconduct” over their refusal to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

Nurses and Corrective Services staff will join teachers in a fight against harsh state government measures docking the pay of education workers over 18 weeks.

Hundreds of unvaccinated teachers received terse letters from the state government this week, informing them their pay would be reduced for “serious misconduct” breaches for not being vaccinated.

The Education Department said it was finalising disciplinary processes against about 900 staff, including teachers, teacher aides, admin staff, cleaners and schools officers who had not complied with the Chief Health Officer’s direction to be vaccinated against Covid.

The direction was repealed on June 30, when unvaccinated staff were able to return to work.

A department spokesperson said 99 per cent of its 54,000 staff had been vaccinated and the disciplinary penalties were individualised to each person’s circumstances.

It is believed the pay of sidelined teachers, who are now back at work, will be cut by between $800 and $1730 over the 18 weeks or between $25 to $90 a week.

Education Department assistant director-general human resources Anne Crowley wrote to teachers saying she could reduce their pay for 20 weeks but decided on 18.

The strongly worded letter said the department had “lost trust” in the teachers and claimed they had “acted inappropriately ”.

“Your conduct in failing to comply with the direction posed a risk to the health and safety of your co-workers, students and members of the public which was mitigated only by the steps taken by the department to suspend you from duty,” the letter to teachers said.

All unvaccinated teachers were under investigation for failing to obey a direction from the Education Department and were suspended without pay from December 2021.

Teachers being investigated are typically suspended on full pay unless they are facing criminal charges.

A southside teacher, who could not be named, said undergoing medical procedures on direction from the department was not a condition he signed up for.

“People don’t understand that I have not been paid for six months and have lost income of $47,000 because I refused to get vaccinated and now they are cutting my pay back a further $1260 over 18 weeks,” he said.

“When I go for future employment, even within the department, I have to reveal that I have been disciplined.

“Letters were also sent this month to unvaccinated teachers who were forced out of Education Department housing, leaving their contents behind, for failing to get the jab.

The latest letters to the unvaccinated teachers in remote and isolated regions, some on islands, said they are being charged for the rent of the Education Department housing even while they were on forced leave without pay and after they had been evicted.

A Department spokesperson said teachers were not evicted from Education Department housing as a result of not being vaccinated, with the exception of one case in Far North Queensland. “The matter relating to this individual has been resolved,” the spokesperson said.

Last night, nurses and corrective services staff also voiced their opposition to the Covid rules for some state employees.

The Nurses Professional Association of Queensland and the Sworn Officers Professional Association of Australia said their members would join the teachers to fight the state government’s Industrial Relations Amendment Bill, which will be brought before the parliament in the next sitting.

Teachers Professional Association of Queensland secretary Tracy Tully said the education staff should not be penalised financially as they had not broken any law or engaged in serious misconduct in the workplace.

Hundreds of Queensland teachers have been left reeling after receiving letters informing them their pay will be docked over 18 weeks because they refused to have Covid vaccinations.

“The only thing they are guilty of is not abiding by a direction issued by the department demanding that they get vaccinated against Covid,” she said.

“This latest measure is like a triple caning and means they have now been penalised financially three times.”

Affected teachers have 21 days to lodge claims with the state’s Industrial Relations Commission.

A spokesperson for the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland said similar letters were sent to all unvaccinated Queensland Health staff, with hundreds sacked and thousands suspended in December.

“I have spoken to six former nurses who are living in their cars because they have been sacked or suspended without pay for refusing the vaccine,” the spokesperson said.

“There are other nurses who got vaccinated against their will just to keep food on their tables and now they are being made to get a third booster even though it is not mandated.”

Sworn Officers Professional Association of Australia spokeswoman Lisa McBurney said unvaccinated police officers who have been stood down, were still on full pay until next month and no police officers had been sacked.

“Despite the rules being relaxed for prisoners and all other visitors to jails, QCS continues to mandate vaccinations for its staff,” Ms McBurney said.

“In the past week, QCS has removed Covid vaccination requirements for all contractors, chaplains and visitors.

“The irony is that prisoners never had to be vaccinated.

“The biggest issue is that there are already drastic staff shortages and standing down officers who are willing to work, just compounds that.”

 Affected teachers will have 21 days to lodge claims with the state’s Industrial Relations Commission.

The Education Department spokesperson said the penalties were small-scale temporary reductions of one increment of pay for a period of 18 weeks and were not an uncommon penalty.

“School staff were given ample opportunity to follow the lawful direction or provide evidence as to why they should be exempt from the direction since the vaccination requirements were announced in November 2021,” the department said.

“For confidentiality reasons the department will not discuss circumstances specific to any staff member.”