Unvaccinated Teachers Punished AGAIN!

In November 2021, Queensland teachers were ordered by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to get vaccinated against COVID-19. They were ordered to get one dose by December 17, and were to be fully vaccinated by January 23, just in time for the start of the 2022 school year. Most teachers complied, some didn’t. I know two teachers personally who refused to comply and were suspended from duty without pay. Both of them felt disillusioned with their employer and left education for good. Both had worked long hours throughout the two-year pandemic up until that point, one of which was my daughter’s teacher. Now they’re gone.

In February 2022, state Education Minister Grace Grace was in full support of the mandates. An Education Queensland spokesman said unvaccinated staff were not allowed on school sites. “The department is pleased that approximately 98% of our teaching workforce has indicated that they are fully vaccinated. The majority of staff who have failed to comply with the health direction are now suspended without pay”. I like how they always tout this 98% figure as if all those people are in full support of the mandates. It’s like when Saddam Hussein or Kim Jong Un stated that 98% of people voted for them in their most recent “democratic” elections. I mean, use any tinpot dictatorship you like. It’s always the dictator’s dilemma, isn’t it? Do I win by 95% or 99%? In Turkmenistan, the President just split the difference and won by 97%. I wonder what happened to the 3% of people who didn’t vote for him. Hmm…

Anyway, back to the Democratic People’s Republic of Queensland. A few months later in June 2022, there was a sharp increase in Queensland teacher vacancies as non-teaching staff had to front classes to stay open. Yes, the groundskeeper was now responsible for geography. But never fear! The Queensland Government to the rescue! It turns out that vaccinated teaching staff weren’t as dangerous as first thought and they were invited back to the classroom. “Queensland drops Covid vaccine mandates for teachers, with NSW to follow”. Ah, great! Finally, these mandates are behind us. Welcome back unvaccinated teachers!

Well, not so fast. Just yesterday, or the day before, Assistant Director-General Chief Human Resources Officer, Department of Education, Anne Crowley sent out an email stating that all unvaccinated teaching staff will now be penalised, AGAIN! Not only did they miss out on a few months salary, now that they’re back, they’ll have to suffer more financial penalties as a “disciplinary” action. It should be noted that the letter noted that the maximum penalty could have seen their pay reduced for a period of 20 weeks. These teachers should count their lucky stars that their salary has only been reduced for 18 weeks!

Does anybody else feel like we’re living in a topsy-turvy world? First of all, in January, the teachers were suspended without pay because their decision to not be vaccinated was a danger to their coworkers and students. Then five months later in June, there was an unforeseen teacher shortage for some strange reason. Then a day or two later, the Premier announces that unvaccinated teachers are welcome to return to work as the danger is no longer present. About 900 of them take her up on her offer. And then, a couple of months later almost to the day, the Education Department decide to dock their salaries for 18 weeks! For no apparent reason! I mean, the government have already said that it’s safe for them to return to work and invited them back, but as a welcoming gift, we’re going to dock your salary! It’s clearly just a punitive, sadistic measure. They’ve already been punished, but we’ve decided that’s it’s okay to treat our fellow humans like scum!

In my reckoning, this will only result in at least some of these teachers just quitting the industry altogether resulting in more teacher shortages. And is that the goal of the Education Department? To be punitive and make it hard on their teachers? Well I can tell you what their goal is, at least officially, based on their latest Strategic Plan: “A great start for all children. Every student succeeding. Safe and fair workplaces and communities. Capable and confident people delivering responsive services”. Oh, I forgot one: “Punishment for evil unvaccinated teachers who refuse to obey!”.

I’d just like to finish with a quote from the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is from Article 2: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”.

Have we lost our way here in Queensland? What do you think? Is punishing these teachers over and over again a fair and reasonable measure?

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