My mum and her fellow teachers earned a nice payrise

Lachlan · 11-08-2009, 08:03 AM

DAMN STRAIGHT!

This was a long time in the coming! Teachers in QLD have had it bad for years!!

Quote:

A BROKE State Government has had to find an extra $140 million to make Queensland teachers among the highest paid in the country as a bitter dispute between the two sides ended yesterday.

The peace deal will cost the Government more than $1 billion over three years – but it will mean no more industrial action by state school teachers, which had included strikes and a vicious advertising campaign attacking Premier Anna Bligh.

The Queensland Teachers Union state council yesterday signed off on the Government's offer of a 12.5 per cent pay rise over three years – an offer the union recently rejected as they wanted an 18.5 per cent increase.

But last-minute sweeteners thrown in by Ms Bligh, who intervened in the stalled negotiations, made the difference in a package both sides described as a satisfactory compromise.

Union members will be briefed on the measures today and are expected to rubber stamp the deal at meetings within the next fortnight.

Ms Bligh said teachers would get a 4.5 per cent wage increase backdated to July 1 and further increases of 4 per cent in July 2010 and 2011, accounting for $900 million of the package.

She said Queensland graduate teachers would be the highest paid in the country by 2011, on $57,000 in their first year, up from $48,800.

Ms Bligh said teachers with 13 years or more experience could immediately apply for an upgrade. The promotion and pay rise would not be automatic, but based on merit.

She said the creation of a new senior teacher classification – with a base pay of $83,300 by 2011 – would mean staff could remain as teachers rather than have to go into administration to further their career and pay.

Principals and other administrators would receive an extra 2.5 per cent pay bonus after the three-year deal.

"Our teachers are at the front line of better education for our kids and this deal recognises their value," Ms Bligh said yesterday.

She said Queensland's $2 billion Budget deficit meant the Government could not increase the initial offer, but she found some wiggle room at the last moment.

"We have been saying all along we cannot go above 12.5 per cent for the entire teaching workforce," Ms Bligh said.

"That is just beyond budget."

Union president Steve Ryan said he was pleased with the deal as graduate teachers would be among the highest paid in Australia, while experienced teachers now had an extra incentive.

"It opens up an extended career structure for senior teachers, it enables them to stay in the classroom," he said.

He said there also had been an improvement in conditions of temporary teachers, including some leave pay.

The QTU has been one of the most anti-Government unions in 2009 as both sides fought a rugged battle.

The union spent $75,000 of members' money during the March election campaign attacking Ms Bligh in a media blitz.

Members went on strike across Queensland and marched on State Parliament on several occasions.

Education Minister Geoff Wilson had warned that industrial action would not resolve the dispute.

Mr Wilson said there was an "insurmountable" $500 million gulf between the union's claim and the Government's offer.

The Industrial Relations Commission handed teachers an interim 4 per cent pay rise in September.

A recent Sunday Mail survey revealed 70 per cent of Queenslanders believed teachers were not valued highly enough.

Premier Anna Bligh finds $1 billion for Queensland teachers | The Courier-Mail