The State Government has announced a wages policy of 3%, 2.5%, 2.5% for 3-year agreements. This wages policy will mean we will continue to be priced out of homes, our wages will never catch up to the increases in the cost of basic necessities we've seen over the last 3 years and the teacher shortage will only get worse. The LNP campaign material in the 2025 Federal Election acknowledges that inflation in Australia is still running at 3.5% - already higher than what they're currently offering public servants.

While wages have grown by 11.4% (compounded) for teachers over the last three years, the latest figures from the ABS¹ show that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Brisbane has grown by 17.9%!

If you're Experienced Senior Teacher 2, that means a 6.5% pay cut of $7,220 or $276 a fortnight in the space of three years! So Experienced Senior Teacher 2 was at $110,500 at the end of EB10 (June 2022). At the end of EB11, EST2 salary is at $123,102. The effect of inflation over the same period on the same $110,500 starting point puts it at $130,322.

We need to be fighting for 15% p.a. like nurses and other unions have fought for recently around Australia. NSW teachers won a 10% pay rise for the first year of their agreement, and Victorian nurses won 28% over 4 years by implementing work bans and voting against bad offers. Contrast these figures with the 8% currently being touted by the State Government. It's a good start that the Queensland Council of Unions, and the Queensland Teachers' Union have come out opposing the government wages policy.

We need to use our industrial power to fight for what we're worth. The last state-wide QTU strike was 15 years ago, and since then we’ve seen our pay and conditions go backwards - there's a direct connection between the two.

We're already 6.5% behind where we were before EB11 - this means for the coming agreement we have to cover all the lost ground over the last 3 years, as well as cover the lost ground between us and similarly-qualified professions. That's why we need to see our union fighting for 15% p.a. in EB11. In our log of claims, the QTU are advocating for wages that recognise the professional qualifications of members. This must include advocating for wages that not only make us the best paid teachers in Australia, but also close the gap between us and similarly qualified professions, cover the loss of ground over the last 3 years, and beat inflation for the next three years.