Editorial: Teachers dispute another tricky problem to navigate

A major teachers strike would cause disruption for many students. Photo / 123rf

The prospect of thousands of teachers going on strike brings the cost of living and other problems squarely into political focus this week.

Up to 50,000 teachers, mostly at the primary school level, are scheduled to take action on Thursday unless the disruption can be avoided with negotiations.

Primary and kindergarten teachers last week rejected a second offer from the Ministry of Education to settle collective agreements.

It’s controversial, as teachers will walk off the job during school hours. That’s more disruption for parents after previous weather and Covid-related schooling setbacks. An estimated 800,000 students would be affected.

The New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) said the main focus was on improving staffing and funding levels and retaining teachers with better pay offers.

NZEI president Mark Potter said that while cost of living wage top-ups were part of it, “the bigger picture is that if we are to retain and attract quality educators, we must improve work conditions in the sector”.

Class sizes, an insufficient numbers of relievers and sick leave have been mentioned as factors.

There could be public sympathy for some of the background problems in education and the fact that starting teachers are on an annual wage of about $51,000, which is not far above the minimum wage.

Ministry of Education Employment Relations and Pay Equity general manager Mark Williamson said the rejected offer had involved “significant increases”, adding “teachers at the top of the scale would earn $96,820 after eight years teaching”.

Teachers have been seeking pay boosts to match inflation, which was 7.2 per cent in December.

Inflation is proving hard to bring down in other places, such as the United States. Although unemployment in this country is still low - the most recent jobless figure was 3.4 per cent at the start of February - households are still having to spend more on essentials, with less available for sudden expenses or saving.

Cutting spending is one alternative tool governments can use against high inflation, instead of just the reliance on Reserve Bank interest rate rises. But that adds to voters’ pain and can result in the types of inadequate investment teachers are concerned about.

Both education and health are areas of society where the public wants better services, yet these sectors face the same chronic problems of insufficient funding and resources, and not enough or overworked staff. Long health emergency department wait times were highlighted last week because of faulty government agency data.

Like the issues that washed ashore in the recent storms, they’re part of the country’s extensive background dysfunctions.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins noted that: “The Government has put more money in so the Ministry of Education can address the concerns teachers are raising.”

While saying the education dispute was for the ministry and teachers to negotiate, he said of the rejected offer: “It’s not everything they’ve asked for, but it is a significant advance of where they’ve been previously.”

The dispute is another tricky problem related to the cost of living crunch for the Government to navigate as it tries to douse political flames sparking elsewhere.