More than 400 support staff in Northland schools have joined others throughout the country in lobbying the government for better pay and working conditions.
The Northland staff are members of the New Zealand Education Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa which organised a rally at the Town Basin in Whangarei on Saturday as part of a growing call for action on pay equity and equity for women.
Similar rallies were organised by the union throughout New Zealand on Saturday.NZEI Te Riu Roa is pursuing pay equity claims for a number of female-dominated support workers employed through the Ministry of Education such as teacher aides, early childhood teachers, administration staff, science technicians and caretakers.
Schools pay their support staff out of their operations grant but NZEI has been calling for their pay to be centrally funded like teachers.
Rally organiser in Whangarei, Adrienne Birch, said teacher aides in particular were either on minimum pay or just above it which was low compared to the work they performed.