Queensland Teachers Union
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| Full name | Queensland Teachers' Union of Employees |
|---|---|
| Native name | Queensland Teachers' Union |
| Founded | 1889 |
| Members | 44,000 |
| Affiliation | AEU |
| Key people | Kevin Bates, president |
| Office location | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Country | Australia |
| Website | www.qtu.asn.au |
The Queensland Teachers' Union is an Australian trade union with a membership of more than 44,000 teachers and principals in the Queensland Government's primary schools, secondary schools, special schools, senior colleges, TAFE colleges and other educational facilities. More than 96 per cent of eligible teachers are members. As well as protecting the rights and conditions of its members, the QTU also sees the promotion of public education as a major part of its role.
The Queensland Teachers' Union was formed in January 1889, when seven regional teachers' organisations gathered at the School of Arts in Brisbane. It is the oldest teachers' union in Australia and one of the oldest trade unions of any type in Queensland. In 1895, the QTU published the first issue of the Queensland Education Journal, later renamed the Queensland Teachers' Journal, which is now the oldest continuous teachers' journal in Australia.
With the Public Service Association, the QTU lead the campaign for the establishment of a state public service superannuation scheme for Queensland, which eventually came into being in 1913.
In May 1917, the QTU was granted registration as an industrial association in Queensland's new Arbitration Court, and in November of that year the Queensland Teachers Award became the first agreed in industrial arbitration processes anywhere in Australasia, and one of the first negotiated in an industrial tribunal anywhere.
In 1967, the Industrial Commission granted the QTU's application for equal pay for women teachers, something for which the union had been campaigning since 1919.
The Remote Area Incentive Scheme, which tackles teacher shortages in the state's rural and remote areas by using incentives to attract and retain teachers, was introduced in 1990, after 16 years of QTU campaigning.
In 2010 the QTU, along with other Australian teacher unions, campaigned against the federal government's My School website, which publishes the NAPLAN test performance of schools and provides comparisons between schools.
In 2009, QTU members staged a national strike, the union's first in nine years, in support of a campaign for a salary increase.
In 2008, QTU members in remote areas of Queensland took strike action over what they regarded as the poor standard of housing supplied by The Department of Education and Training.
In 2015, the QTU established in collaboration with the Independent Education Union of Australia QLD branch, the working group "Teachers For Refugees and Asylum Seekers". This working group was established after the forced removal of Yeronga State High Year 12 student Mojgan Shamslispoor to an immigration detention centre in Darwin.
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