Kindy teachers back in pay negotiations

Mediation began today to try to kick-start stalled contract negotiations for kindergarten teachers and avert industrial action.

Teachers around the country had planned to hold two-hour stop-work meetings on Tuesday to discuss the breakdown of negotiations for a collective employment agreement, and to vote on whether to strike on December 8.

However, Nelson Free Kindergarten Association general manager Wendy Logan said mediation between the New Zealand Educational Institute and the Ministry of Education was to start at 10.30am today in a bid to try and resolve the issue.

She said mediation was a good move and the association was keen to see progress made to try to get the collective employment agreement settled.

In August negotiations began between NZEI, the ministry, New Zealand Kindergartens Incorporated and the New Zealand Federation of Free Kindergartens for a collective agreement covering 1630 teachers.

An NZEI spokesman said they were negotiating with the ministry because they provided funding, but it was regional associations in each area in the country that controlled the running of the kindergartens.

The spokesman said the talks had stalled over three main points.

He said the kindergarten teachers wanted a guarantee their term breaks would continue, and provisions for extra teachers would be made, if the associations were to ask for ministry funding to keep them open up to 52 weeks a year.

The associations were also demanding the ability to increase the amount of time teachers worked directly with children to a level that would cause teacher burnout and erode education quality, the spokesman said.

The last point was regarding pay parity between kindergarten, and primary and high school teachers.

A 2002 agreement saw pay parity between kindergarten, and primary and high school teachers. From that arrangement, head kindergarten teachers were to have the same wage as a headmaster, and a senior teacher wage matches a less senior kindergarten teacher.

Since 2002 there had been a series of pay rises to get the kindergarten teachers pay to the primary and secondary school teachers level, and will reach the level next July, the spokesman said.

But over that time, the pay difference between head teachers and senior teachers has closed, which has reduced the margin of pay for the kindergarten teachers.

"So we're saying we want to go back to the 2002 agreement and restore that margin."

- NZPA