Labour Day 2024
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 129 No 3, 3 May 2024, page no 6.
Another incredible year of Labour Day celebrations has again demonstrated that the union movement is strong and proud in Queensland.
For QTU members, Labour Day 2024 was a time to celebrate 135 years of achievement, with events held in 15 locations from Brisbane to Thursday Island. The range of places and people speaks to our proud history and diversity.
In regional areas, the QTU led all marches and parades. In Brisbane, we were second only to the plumbers union. It was an amazing sight to see members making their way up Wickham Street and the pictures coming in from the regions were truly special.
Across the weekend, members brought their friends and families to march and stand in solidarity with one another and shoulder to shoulder with the wider Queensland union movement.
On members’ backs were the new QTU shirts, a sea of black, blue, and teal, the colours and design another nod to our 135-year history. In their hands were flags, signs, and corflutes, each chosen according to what members wanted to say about their pride in the profession and their Union.
Each year, part of our preparation for Labour Day is to pull out the corflutes and get them into members’ hands across the state. The majority of these corflutes are stored in the basement of the QTU Milton office. There some sit, ready to be dusted off and held up again and again.
Others sit like ghosts of campaigns past, a reminder of our work. Stop TAFE Cuts reads one. Give a Gonski reads another. Now we talk about Rebuilding with TAFE and we continue to demand fair funding For Every Child.
Other corflutes are pulled out year after year because their message will always ring true and they speak of our collective pride. Imagine the many hands of members who have held up messages like these… “Education leaders matter”… “State school teachers are great school teachers”.
Each year we produce a handful of new corflutes, ready to deliver a new message or update. This year, many members held a new corflute with the words “Keep the fire burning”. This referenced the progress made for First Nations members, but also as a reminder that there is still work to be done and that this can be achieved if we continue to stand together.
That message surely rings true for us all, no matter what sign we held on Labour Day this year. We have to keep going, we have to reflect and celebrate past wins. We can never stop in our pursuit of safe, healthy workplaces in which young people learn and grow in fully funded schools and TAFEs.
In our 135 years, we have gained so much industrially and professionally. Standing together on Labour Day in 2024 again reminded us that together we are strong, and we will continue to win with our members.
Check out the next Journal for a full photo recap of the big event.