Editorial: There is much still to be resolved in the year ahead

2014 concludes with many issues of concern for QTU members unresolved, yet with significant achievements nonetheless.

The recently agreed teacher performance review process is a far cry from the sort of process we envisaged when Great Teachers = Great Results was announced by the government in 2013. A significant factor in achieving that result was the membership ballot in late 2013 for industrial action.

The attack on the campaigning rights of unions was also seen off when the state government capitulated earlier this year and repealed its legislation in the face of a High Court challenge by Queensland unions, including the QTU.

Many issues of significance remain unresolved, however: e.g. secondary assessment and tertiary entrance, proposals removing practising teachers from the board of the Queensland College of Teachers, contracts for principals and deputy principals and the stripping of teaching and learning conditions under the guise of award modernisation, not to mention the attacks on TAFE as a public provider of quality vocational education and training.

2015 will see the next round of enterprise bargaining under a radically altered industrial legal framework. There are gross limits on what can be negotiated, when negotiations can begin, the capacity for unions to ballot members for action and for members to take action.
Before that, however, is a state election in which judgements can be cast on the actions of this government and the merits of all political parties and independents on issues of importance for QTU members, including education and industrial issues, privatisation, security of employment, and unemployment. Each of you will be asked to play your part, not just as an elector but as a campaigner for high-quality, well-resourced public education, decent public services and fair industrial laws in Queensland.

Class sizes

Let us look at just one issue that will be determined in 2015: class sizes. The Minister is on the record as saying that class sizes are a policy and thus excluded from industrial negotiations under their new legislation (notwithstanding more than 30 years of industrial and public campaigning by the QTU on this issue), going on to say that there are no plans to change the policy “at this time” (emphasis added).

This is the government’s track record:

  • an attempt to remove class sizes from the last enterprise bargaining agreement in 2012 EB negotiations
  • a response to its Commission of Audit that stated that class size targets would be removed from agreements in the next round of bargaining
  • legislation that, theoretically at least, makes class sizes a non-allowable matter for industrial negotiations for enterprise bargaining agreements.

Where then is the surety, the confidence that there is no plan to change class size targets in the future?

Showcase for Excellence Awards

One of the privileges of the role of General Secretary of the QTU is to participate in judging these annual awards. The Minister has repeatedly and correctly said that Queensland education is not in crisis. These awards are proof positive. The 21 finalists for the seven awards are but the tip of the iceberg of the great work occurring every day in Queensland state schools. You should have pride and confidence in the difficult work that you do every day in Queensland state schools. I do.

AEU Federal President

As I write, AEU Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos has announced his resignation from the position at the start of next year to take up a position in the world education union, Education International. Angelo has been Federal President for seven years and has been the public face and sometimes the heart and soul of our national campaign for improved school funding. Angelo’s departure will be a loss to the AEU and Australian teachers, but a significant gain for teachers across the world. I add my thanks and congratulations to the chorus of similar expressions from around the country.

PBF

On pages 22 and 23 of this Journal you will see articles promoting membership of the Paraplegic Benefit Fund. In the lead up to the summer school holidays, the QTU is partnering with the PBF to promote membership of the fund to members of the QTU. The QTU has had corporate membership of PBF on behalf of its employees for a number of years and I encourage you to consider joining PBF either online at www.qtu.asn.au/pbf or through the form enclosed with this Journal.

Graham Moloney
General Secretary

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 119 No 8, 14 November 2014, p5