Queensland teachers' dispute escalates

Queensland teachers' dispute escalates

By Bill Mason

BRISBANE — The Queensland Teachers' Union's rolling strike campaign is set to continue into a third round after strong votes by mass meetings of teachers in the week beginning May 12.

Last week, state school teachers from more than 580 schools struck and held large and rowdy mass meetings at which they supported a ballot on more action to protest against the Borbidge government's pay offer and the introduction of the Leading Schools Program, which proposes to swap funding for salaries with other school resources.

Under the program, school committees would assume responsibility for budgets — without adequate guarantees on funding. The rolling strike campaign is continuing this week.

Meanwhile, staff at TAFE colleges around the state are staging a campaign of rolling strikes against the refusal of the state government to negotiate a central enterprise bargaining agreement. The government has proposed individual agreements for the 16 TAFE institutes, TAFE headquarters and TAFE Queensland International.

From GLW issue 275