More than 50,000 Queensland school teachers have gone on strike for the first time in 16 years on Wednesday, after negotiations with the government over pay and conditions broke down last week.
The Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) asked roughly 570,000 students at the state’s 1,266 public schools to be kept at home where possible.Â
The 24-hour strike was the first since 2009, when teachers across the state walked off the job demanding better pay from the Beattie Labor government.Â
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QTU President Cresta Richardson said if educators were to accept the state government’s wage offer, they would be “the lowest paid in the country”.
“This is really about conditions, we need to ensure we can attract teachers — not just for the city, but for the country as well,” she said.Loading…
Union members had been expected to vote on whether to take further industrial action, including more strikes.
Teachers in Brisbane marched from the Convention Centre to Parliament House, where state budget estimates were underway.
20 per cent of teachers at workLoading…
According to government figures, there were 9,132 teachers working in state schools on Wednesday, which was just over 20 per cent of the workforce.
The number of teachers not at school included those on any type of leave as well as those on strike.
About 13 per cent of state school students, or 74,107, attended school.
More money, more resources
The union said the government had so far offered a pay rise of 8 per cent over three years, and had put a second offer on the table that included a boost in allowances, but not more money.
“If we accepted salaries alone, that places our members in a pretty dire situation,” Ms Richardson said.
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She said addressing the “well-documented teacher shortage” would require an improvement in both conditions and pay.
“We really want our workplaces to be safe — because if our schools are safe for adults, then they are safe for students,” she said.
“We know our teaching conditions are student learning conditions, so they do intertwine.”
Teachers gathered in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, as part of strike action around the state. (ABC News: Nathan Morris)
Burnt-out and disillusioned
In Toowooba, west of Brisbane, a “disillusioned” Danny Tattam agreed.
The veteran teacher, with more than 20 years’ experience, said the stress of the job he loves had built to the point he often struggled to get out of the car in the morning.Â
Danny Tattam has been teaching for more than 20 years. (ABC News: Nathan Morris)
“I would like to retire in five to seven years and I’ve now got to a point where I pull up at the school car park every morning, and I sit in the car and I contemplate whether I’m actually going to go in for the day,” he said.
“It has just become ridiculous. I just feel that I’m probably a little bit burnt-out.”
Mr Tattam said class sizes had continued to increase but this hadn’t been matched by an increase in support.Â
“We have 26 to 28 kids in our class every single day with different learning abilities and behavioural issues, and we don’t appear to be having [any support],” he said.
Erin Madden says teaching conditions have a direct effect on student learning. (ABC News)
Mr Tattam said those requests for support were met with comments like: “Suck it up, you know, you’ve got holidays soon, you’ve only got another couple of weeks, or then you’ve got Christmas off.”
“But you’ve got to come back … next year and do it all over again.”
Negotiations over a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) for the state’s teachers were referred to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) for conciliation by the government last week when no deal could be reached.
Amanda Dowsett says high school teachers get approximately 7.5 minutes per child per work to “make a difference”. (ABC News)
Ms Richardson said a conciliation meeting had been moved forward by five days and would now be held on Thursday, August 7.
Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the government had negotiated in good faith.Â
“We have held 18 formal meetings over the past five months and remain at the table to finalise an agreement that supports and values our teachers,” he said.
Loading…Parents asked to keep kids home
Ms Richardson said in flagging the strike in advance, the union had hoped to give parents time to sort out “alternative arrangements for their kids”.
Chants could be heard across Brisbane as union members marched to Parliament House. (ABC News: Alex Brewster)
She added it would be “up to the department and the minister to ensure students [were] appropriately supervised”.
Mr Langbroek said schools would “remain open and students [would] be safely supervised”.
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Pharmacist Natalie Tasker and her husband are both essential health workers and weren’t able to keep their children home.
“[Queensland Health] are also bargaining at the moment so we’re really supportive of people making sure that they get fair working conditions,” she said.
“We’re also really grateful for the teachers that are able to be here, to provide supervision so we can go about our business.”
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Teachers who participated in the strike will not be paid.
Look back at how ABC readers and other Australians responded to this live
moment.
14h agoWed 6 Aug 2025 at 12:19am
QTU says it wants to see a follow through on election promises
Ms Ruttiman says the offers that have been presented so far do “little to attract and retain teachers”
“During the election, the Crisafulli government made a commitment that they would take measures to address the teachers shortage crisis,” she says.
“We want to see [the government] walk that walk, not just talk the talk.”
This is where we’ll leave today’s live coverage.
14h agoWed 6 Aug 2025 at 12:14am
The largest teachers’ strike in the state
QTU General Secretary Kate Ruttiman is up now.
She says today’s action is the largest strike by Queensland teachers to date.
“It is historic. The number of union members that we have is historic,” she says.
“We know that teachers want to hear from their employer, hear from the government and see that they are listening.”
14h agoWed 6 Aug 2025 at 12:08am
Teachers following the money — and that’s ‘not in Queensland’
The EBA that recently lapsed delivered some of the highest wages in Australia to Queensland educators.
Ms Richardson says it allowed the state to pick “teachers from across the country”.
“If you’re a transient person and want to move around, then you follow the money,” she says.
“Currently, that money is not in Queensland.”
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