Editorial: Teachers, you are valued – just don’t squander that goodwill

To put parents out for the second time over the same deal as everyone else across the public sector was perhaps a step too far, writes the editor.

Teachers march towards the Queensland Department of Education during strike action on Tuesday. Picture: Polina Levina/Getty Images

Teachers are fantastic people. They do one of the most important jobs in our community, and they do it these days in an increasingly challenging environment. Sadly, their union’s belligerent attitude to the current wage negotiations is undermining that spirit of goodwill.

To put parents out for the second time yesterday while 30,000 or so teachers went on strike again to protest the fact the government had offered them the same deal as everyone else across the public sector was perhaps a step too far.

The Courier-Mail has always backed the legitimate role that unions play in our workplaces. But we have also never been afraid to call it out when unions get it wrong – as we did over recent years when the militant CFMEU held the entire construction industry to ransom, with the complicit, or at least tacit, support of the Palaszczuk and then Miles Labor state governments.

We do so again today with the teachers union, which apparently has decided that there is public goodwill for putting parents out for a second time in just months.

The teachers were offered an 8 per cent pay rise over three years – the same deal already accepted by the police, paramedics, doctors and medical officers. The teachers were also offered $1000 attraction and retention incentives in regional areas, a new safety taskforce, $400 payments for beginning teachers, two student-free days over Easter to be moved to the end of the year, and $100 per night extra when teachers attend school camps.

It was a deal that was also totally in line with those being struck across the private sector. Yes, it is less than inflation. But everyone else is in the same boat.

To say to parents who have had to suck up the same – or worse – pay deal with their own bosses that they should have their lives disrupted again so that their teachers can ask for more ... well, it is not likely to have won them much sympathy.

Why the teachers’ union wants to play it this way is unclear. They have been told by the government time and again that they should negotiate around the edges with incentives and so on – because the overall offer will not change. The union says its problem is not just pay, but better working conditions. Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek says the union keeps changing the goalposts in negotiations. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

But police, for example, accepted the 8 per cent pay rise over three years in line with the government’s wage policy, with negotiated incentives added – such as increased shift allowances and bonuses for frontline officers and rural placements that were worth an extra $163m for their members.

It was a similar story with the state’s paramedics, who accepted the 8 per cent and then negotiated incentives including regional attraction and retention, additional pay for nightshift workers, and some back pay.

Other unions have accepted the 8 per cent in principle. The only one to have received more than 8 per cent were the nurses, but their 11 per cent pay rise over three years was promised before the election.

When it comes to the teachers’ union, their recalcitrance has left them heading to arbitration – and the government now says the deal offered is off the table. That means there is a chance teachers could be left worse off than other public sector workers. We hope not, because they do deserve their 8 per cent, but that is now a very real risk.

THE WINNER IS ‘BRISBANE’

We have noted before here that the name “Brisbane” is about to burst on to the world stage in a huge way.

In just seven years from now the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics will have come and gone – and our capital will have emerged to take what is now very much its rightful place as a proper world city.

This once-in-forever opportunity is why we advocated in our recent Future Brisbane series for all the councils across what Australians know as South East Queensland to join forces as a single, unified brand – the Brisbane City Region.

It is good to have seen the Council of Mayors (SEQ) take up this idea. As we reported last week, they have produced a 35-page booklet now being used globally by the group to spruik the “unique and individual strengths and offerings” of the towns and cities that make up the “Brisbane City Region”.

We applaud their thinking, and suggest the mayors themselves be a bit more upfront with their own constituents about this reality.

Meanwhile today Brisbane’s rugby league team will unveil a new logo – only the third in the club’s 37-year history, and the first new one since the year 2000. The logo puts the Brisbane River front and centre, incorporating its famous curves into the mane of the Bronco. The words on the logo will also change from “Broncos, Brisbane” to just “Brisbane”. It is a seriously clever move considering the context.

The team’s new battle cry – We Charge On – is also well matched to this moment in our city’s history.

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

Originally published as Editorial: Teachers, you are valued – just don’t squander that goodwill