Pay up or we strike, Queensland teachers tell Crisafulli government

Nearly 50,000 state school teachers in Queensland are considering walking out of classrooms after two rejected pay offers from the government.

Queensland teachers protesting outside parliament house. Picture: Nigel Hallett

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Nearly 50,000 school teachers are considering walking out of classrooms and going on strike after rejecting two pay offers from the Queensland government.

The Queensland Teachers Union is encouraging its 48,000 members to vote for the protected industrial action, which could see teachers stop work for up to 24 hours at a time.

Premier David Crisafulli and his government are currently locked in negotiations with ­unions representing state-­employed teachers, nurses, police officers and other public servants, all of whom have rejected initial wage offers.

QTU president Cresta Richardson said the ballot closed on July 28 and the government had “more than enough time to do its job and prevent” the “rare” industrial action.

“Queensland state schools are currently dealing with the teacher shortage crisis, unmanageable workload as a direct effect, and rising occupational violence and aggression, serious issues that require urgent intervention,” Ms Richardson said.

“The government is well aware of the need to deliver a package that retains our workforce and attracts new teachers to improve conditions.

“The government’s current rejected offer falls well short.”

“The QTU is fighting for ­nation-leading salaries and ­conditions – our members and the students they teach deserve nothing less.”

Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek. Picture: Liam Kidston

Queensland Teachers Union president Cresta Richardson.

The Department of Education’s director-general, Sharon Schimming, wrote to all teachers on Wednesday, warning that the most recent offer – which Ms Schimming said had been rejected by the union on the teachers’ behalf over the recent school holidays – needed to be accepted by the end of the month for wage increases to be backdated to July 1.

“Any delay in settling the ­negotiations may therefore ­impact on the date of a wage ­increase,” Ms Schimming wrote.

The revised offer delivered on June 27 – and which was subsequently rejected – offered a 3 per cent wage increase from July 1 this year, followed by 2.5 per cent increases in each of the following two years.

It also included a less generous cost-of-living adjustment than in teachers’ previous enterprise bargaining agreement, a $100 overnight camp allowance, an extra student-free day a year starting next year, and a new pay band of $135,333 annually for “experienced senior teachers”.

Teachers rallied outside Parliament House in Brisbane after the state budget was delivered late last month, and again in Rockhampton in central Queensland on Wednesday afternoon.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the department continued to negotiate with the union in good faith.

“We are committed to reaching an agreement as soon as possible to provide certainty and stability for Queensland’s teaching workforce,” Mr Langbroek said.

The Crisafulli government’s first budget was predicated on a three-year pay deal offered to – and already rejected by – the public service in March.

The initial and revised offers included the same pay rise figures: 3 per cent in the first year, followed by 2.5 per cent for 2026 and 2027.

For every 1 per cent rise in those wage rates across the entire public service, taxpayers would be slugged an extra $380m annually to fund the wage bill increase.

The enterprise agreement for nurses expired at the end of March and those negotiations were forced into independent conciliation before the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission last week.

Nurses are already taking industrial action, including refusing to make patients’ beds, deliver ­patients’ meals and clean ­patients’ rooms.