School therapists strike

Pay parity at heart of decision to launch protest

SPEECH therapists and professionals who help disabled students at Gold Coast State schools for the first time have taken strike action after receiving what they believe is an insulting pay offer.

About 60 staffers took strike action yesterday staging a protest at Viney Park near the Coomera State School.

The state school employees have secured the backing of Bonney LNP MP Sam O’Connor in their wage war.

Mr O’Connor had been told that some specialist teachers had just been offered a huge salary rise but therapists on some of the lower wage scales would receive no increase.

A Coast speech language pathologist told Mr O’Connor: “Our key enterprise bargaining agreement has expired and we are seeking to negotiate a new agreement that addresses key inequities for therapists in education that’s been ongoing for almost a decade now.

“Therapists in education are paid on average $10,000 less per annum than our counterparts in health and also do not have a comparable pay scale or career structure to our teaching colleagues.”

Mr O’Connor confirmed he had met with some of the workers at his office who had raised concerns.

“If (Industrial Relations Minister) Grace Grace wants to talk about wage theft, she should look in her own department,” he said.

“Allied health workers are a vital support to kids in our schools who need a little extra help. This is an issue the LNP has continued to raise on behalf of these workers.

“They do the same jobs as their counterparts in the Health Department and they deserve pay parity. They need fair pay to recognise the role they play in our schools.”

Ms Grace told the Bulletin: “It’s a joke to suggest that a classification review related to enterprise bargaining negotiations is wage theft.

“Examples of wage theft include underpayment of wages, unpaid super, unpaid penalty rates and unauthorised deductions. The MP’s statement just proves how out of touch he is and how little he knows about industrial relations.”

Ms Grace said she was aware of the claim seeking wage parity for therapists.

“Since coming to office in 2015, we have finalised more than 70 agreements based on a foundation of employment security and fair and reasonable wage increases for public sector employees,” she said.