Thousands of Queensland teachers have downed pens and walked off the job without pay for the first time in 16 years.
In Brisbane, members of the Queensland Teachers’ Union held placards as they marched on state parliament demanding better pay and conditions after government negotiations broke down.
The march was among 30 rallies held across Queensland on Wednesday after more than 50,000 members voted to strike for the first time since 2009.
The union believes it to be its biggest strike ever and it comes as a number of other public-sector unions remain locked in negotiations with the state government.
The strike disrupted hundreds of state schools – with 600,000 primary and high school students estimated to have been affected.
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So why – as protest one sign put it – is this pay offer “the last straw” for much of state’s public-sector workforce and what happens next?
Why are Queensland teachers striking?
For nearly six months, the Queensland Teachers’ Union has been locked in negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement.
The union’s president, Cresta Richardson, said the main priorities were attraction and retention of staff, reducing occupational violence, school resourcing, respect for the profession and salary.
But after 18 meetings, the state government’s pay offer remains exactly the same: 8% over three years, known as the “state wage policy”.
The industrial relations minister and deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, said the state wage policy “is the policy of government” and has been agreed to by cabinet.
“The state wage policy is the state wage policy, and we’re not changing from that,” he said.
The QTU general secretary, Kate Ruttiman, blamed the Liberal National party’s “inflexible” wages policy for strike action that had not taken place under previous governments.
The unions say the pay offer would “place members at the bottom end of the Australian pay scale in three years”.
How were students affected?
An estimated 600,000 students in state schools were affected. Catholic and independent schools were not affected, and teaching went ahead as usual.
Parents were urged to keep their children home where possible. But the department said that schools communicated directly with their communities for alternative arrangements, with some offering excursions, tuckshops and outside school hours care.
What are the implications for other unions?
The teachers’ union is the largest public sector union and the first to strike.
Members of another public sector union, Professionals Australia, walked off the job this week. About 450 technical and road engineers conducted a 12 hour work stoppage on Monday.
Another huge public sector union, the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union, has been conducting lower-level non-strike industrial action since June. That largely takes the form of symbolic steps like wearing union shirts, but also refusing to work overtime, or office tasks like cleaning, and not entering details to rob the department of Medicare rebates.
Agreements with even more unions – notably including the Queensland Professional Firefighters’ Union – will soon run out.
Unions are not permitted to coordinate industrial action with each other.
But many are concerned a broader battle is brewing, akin to the general battle over a decade-old wages policy in New South Wales that helped bring down its Coalition in 2023.
What happens next?
Teachers voted on Wednesday “strongly” supporting conducting another 24-hour stoppage “on a date to be determined, should satisfactory progress towards a reasonable agreement not be made”.
Even if a deal is reached, members still have to vote for it.
The police union inked an agreement based on the wage policy last week, despite describing the permanent pay component as “grossly inadequate” – but cops are widely expected to vote it down.
But in its first state budget in a decade, the LNP budgeted for just 3.5% increase in wage costs, including headcount and wages.
The LNP government last week requested conciliation through the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission. Minister John-Paul Langbroek and the premier, David Crisafulli, have committed to bargaining in good faith.
With additional reporting by Australian Associated Press
