After a ballot of members,the QTU urged members to engage in work bans from 4pm,May 1 to 9,hoping to pressure the department to address the teacher shortage and deal with workload issues created by the new Australian curriculum.
The work ban included no work outside rostered hours;not teaching oversized classes,which were to be supervised only;no engagement in department initiatives such as whole school reviews or reviews;and minimising data collection.
Work bans were also planned from May 1 to June 21 to prevent implementing version nine of the Australian curriculum “until such time as the department provides additional resourcing to support this implementation”.
However,on Tuesday – the day before work bans were due to start – the department took the issue to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission,which ordered all “unprotected industrial action” cease immediately.
In an email to principals on Tuesday at 4.11pm,De’Ath said the actions of the union,despite the best efforts of the department to engage with them,were “profoundly disruptive for the Queensland state education system”.
De’Ath told principals he was aware the QTU provided principals with letter templates for schools to send to parents,but warned they were unauthorised and did not reflect the views of the department.