Queensland teachers to strike

Queensland teachers to strike

BY BILL MASON

BRISBANE — Teachers at Sarina High School in north Queensland are to defy the state Industrial Relations Commission and strike for 24 hours on May 23, and other schools will hold stop-work meetings to consider further action.

The teachers are campaigning for an 8% pay rise and guaranteed improvements in class sizes, amongst other issues. The IRC had ordered that the dispute be settled by arbitration, but refused a request from the state Labor government to order a halt to the industrial action this week.

Queensland Teachers Union president Julie-Ann McCullough said on May 19, "Potential industrial action is always a last resort for teachers, but we have been pushed into this situation by a government that has refused to negotiate meaningfully.

"If teachers vote for a one-hour stoppage and later a full-day strike parents would be given extensive notice, and any student who remained at or went to school would be supervised.

" Our campaign is not just about salaries. We want to negotiate with the government about conditions in state schools, such as class sizes and resource levels."

Since their previous agreement expired at the end of February, the teachers have implemented a series of work bans, covering areas such as state-wide testing, compiling school annual reports and attending after-hours meetings.

From GLW issue 406